


Just Some Tea

by LetsHaveABlast



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bad Jokes, F/M, Reader is Written Female, Reader is kinda stupid, Slow Burn, Waterbender Reader, kinda slow burn, semi-cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 80,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24676030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetsHaveABlast/pseuds/LetsHaveABlast
Summary: You've been traveling with the Avatar for a while, but failed to ever be introduced to the firey prince that was tracking them down. So imagine your surprise when you're told the weird but cute tea shop employee that almost threatened your life, was actually the fire lord's son? Honestly,  at the rate your life was going... you should've known.-----Thank you guys!! I didn't think this would get any attention!I've never written anything before so please bare with me, and also lemme know if there are errors!
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) & Reader, Zuko (Avatar)/Reader
Comments: 131
Kudos: 685





	1. The Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet someone familiar, or at least you think he is... Maybe not? Ah whose to say.

You stare the guy down, squinting your eyes. Said guy is looking around nervously, and for a second you think you can see his fight or flight kicking in. But instead, you both remain frozen, you, midway to slapping up a “Missing Flying Bison” sign, and him, carrying tea leaves back from the market. Maybe he should just leave, yeah leaving sounds like a good idea-

“It’s YOU,” you yelled and channeled the whole alley’s eyes onto him. He broke out in a sprint, you following close behind, posters flying from your bag and into the air. “Wait no!” You yelled again, albeit quite softer, “I’m sorry, oh shit sorry dude, sorry ma’am excuse me, MY GUY JUST STOP, oh sorry my bad,” you apologized to the merchants as you tried to stay on his tail. Apparently, he was much more graceful than you ever hope to be. You sprint over tables and, honestly, people as you were trying to get ahold of this man and it feels like forever until he stops in the very place you wanted to go.

“Hey! What’s the big dea-” And now there is a sword in your face. 

“What do you want from me?” The man mumbles as he stares you down from the other end of the sword, measuring you up as if you are the biggest threat to him and his life. “Oh shit oh umm I’m sorry, oh wow that’s sharp, uh I just want some tea… from you?” You are practically sweating a lake in the door to this tea shop, “could you, I dunno, not stab me?”

“You just want… tea?” The tea guy looks surprised, “Tea?” “yes sir, just tea, please put down the sword, please put down the sword,” you beg. His eyes widen and he lowers his sword, continuing to just stare ahead at you as you take a big breath of relief. When you finally get calmed down, he’s still staring, and you start glancing around him hoping for help with this guy. You question if you’ve ever met this guy before, but you can’t think of anything as you wave your hand in front of his face to gauge any reaction at all. A more aged man walks out, seemingly searching for the commotion and stopped to look at the guy with a sword drawn and you waving you hand in his face.

“What is the problem here, is this man bothering you?” The man walks out and begins poking the frozen swordsmen. “I’m sorry I just wanted some tea! I saw your shop on the way up the city and had to visit, but couldn’t find it for a couple of days. When I saw this employee, I remembered him from before, but he ran from me. I just wanted to ask directions! I’m sorry about the noise!” you bow and look back up at them asking forgiveness for something you did, not really sure where you went wrong there. Actually, maybe the chasing, or the yelling. Probably one of those. 

“Ahh, no need for apologies, I am just glad everybody is okay,” the older man smiled with his eyes closed, so friendly that you question his choice of sword-wielding employee. “I am Moshi, you must’ve really startled my nephew Lee, he is very shy as you can see,” Moshi points over toward the now moving Lee who had turned to look away from the conversation and wiping down a table, but still listening in. 

“Nevermind him, what kind of tea are you looking for?” 

When Moshi returned with your tea, he took a seat down at the table, surprising you, but why not, you haven’t talked to anyone really since traveling with the avatar. “May I ask, what happened earlier, before you had a sword in your face?” Moshi said with a joking laugh, making you smile a little at his friendly nature.

“Thank you for the tea, and I was really just out hanging posters for my friend,” you jumped up with a thought, “That reminds me! Would you mind if I hung this in your window?” you grabbed one of your flyers for Appa out of the bag that you just now realized was quite a bit more empty than it was before the grand chase and handed it to the man in front of you.

“It would mean a lot to my friends, and me, I miss him too,” you remembered how Aang acted when Appa went missing, and it wasn’t exactly a good memory. You did miss ‘Moshi’s’ slight eyebrow raise at the poster in his hand and Lee’s cleaning pace slowing just out of your sight. You snapped out of it, “It’s alright if not, I just figured your shop is so popular, it might help get a few more eyes on it,” you smiled hoping that your flattery might help your cause a little bit. He seemed to think about it, grabbing at his beard, then shot out of his seat, “Of course! We would be glad to help!”

“Thank you so much! It’ll help, I’m sure” you smiled back at the older man. Moshi fondly looked at your grateful face, and got up to hang the flyer at the front of the shop and then left you to your tea while he spoke with the rest of the patrons. You gazed around the shop, admiring the simplicity of it while you sipped your tea. “Oh shit this is really good,” you whispered to yourself, “I gotta tell Katara about this place, maybe Toph too.” Your eyes scanned the room, maybe habit but hey you gotta be prepared with this war and whatnot. Glaring eyes locked with yours, and you stopped sipping your tea but kept your cup raised to your mouth. Lee didn’t exactly seem as friendly as Moshi did, maybe you should just stay away…. oh okay nevermind. 

“I’m sorry about earlier… I’m,” he grimaced as he approached your table and closed his eyes, “shy.” He sighed and then went to turn around but stopped when he heard you speak. “It really is okay, I know everyone is on edge during these times,” you paused, “but can I ask why you ran?” You looked up at him from your seat with big eyes, your hands still clasped around the cooling tea. Turning around, he was surprised at how eager you were to hear his reason. 

“I, uh,” he stuttered and looked anywhere but you, “I’m, it’s-” “It’s alright you don’t have to say,” you smiled up at him, “it’s not my business anyway.” You sipped the last of your tea and stood up, leaving some extra money and turned to him, “sorry for the scare Lee, I hope the rest of your day is less exciting.” Smiling, you waved goodbye to him and to Moshi as you left, thanking them for the tea. Lee, or Zuko, stood in silence as he watched you walk out, and though he would never admit it, he was a little flushed. He only snapped out of it when Moshi, or Iroh, slapped his back, “that girl is either incredibly intelligent and playing with us…. or she’s simply… stupid.”

When you got back to the house, you immediately went to Katara to share your adventure today. “You have to check it out, I don’t think I’ve had tea that good… ever? I don’t even know, and the employees were so weird, one was this funny older guy but he was so nice, but then there was a younger one,” you looked away for a second, “I don’t know he was weirdly familiar.” Katara and Toph stared at your contemplative face. You simply stared into nothing trying out his face and name to something, but you hadn’t really been in the Earth Kingdom that often. There is no way that it could’ve been from back then with the water tribe. 

“Don’t think too hard, you’re starting to bend your drink,” Toph laughed and your tea fell back in its cup. “I think I’ll check it out tomorrow,” Katara started and sighed,” I need something relaxing right now so I can try and plan around this whole Earth King situation.” You all sighed again remembering how stupid this situation is, maybe you should just water octopus yourself in and just hope for the best at this point. You took another sip of your unbended tea,” Yeah even though he was pretty weird, I’ll give him some points for his looks,” you sighed, “he was pretty cute.” “Wow, weird but cute? Sounds like just your type, (Y/N),” Toph joked, and you all started giggling and then gradually cackling alone with each other. 

\---------

You were looking out at the view sipping on some tea when the doors slammed open to the shared house to reveal Katara in obvious distress. “Oh, did the tea not tickle your fancy-” “(Y/N) you were sitting and drinking tea with PRINCE ZUKO and HIS UNCLE!” You stared for a second at Katara as she went to find the others to warn them of the two fire benders that were in Ba Sing Se. You looked back down at your tea, “...ugh I said he was hot, too…” and promptly got up to assist the others with this new discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying this out, not really a writer so bare with me!


	2. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Katara come face first with the supposedly changed prince.

“Ya’ know if you keep pacing, we might be able to build a couple of moats.”

“What good are moats right now,” Katara sighed, “we need to get out of here, (Y/n), not defend a castle!” You sighed and fell on your back to look up at the devious cave ceiling. “Never said it would help,” you mumbled, “just an idea, I guess.” The ground was rough beneath you and dirt ran through your fingers as you played with the rocks that you could reach. “You could help a little more, instead of I don’t know, laying on the ground?” Katara sassed, but sat on the ground next to you despite the comment. Lifting your head off the ground, you gave her a teasing glare and then dropped it back down. Maybe if you hit your head hard enough and an idea will come to mind. 

“I think you would have more luck than me anyway,” you closed your eyes and hid the pretty green crystals from your sight, “oh waterbending master ma’am.” You shook your hands in the air as to exemplify her mastery. She sighed and slouched over to think a little harder about getting out of this cave. You two sat in silence, coming up with as many escape plans two waterbenders in an earth cave could think of.

“Wait, you’re not a water bender?”

Oh shit. You forgot about that guy. 

You shifted your head back to look at Lee, or uh Zuko? But continued to lay down, he isn’t worth sitting up for, or not yet in your book. “Nah I am, and pretty good if I do say so myself,” you pull your gaze away from the firebender, closing your eyes in thought, “but I was forced to practice healing more, just like the rest of the northern tribe girls.” You shifted again, turning your body away from Katara, and continued your unprompted past, “I never stood up to the masters like Katara did, instead, I learned more powerful healing techniques and defensive bending from my mother,” you sighed, “but she’s gone now... everyone is gone now.” Katara knowingly puts a hand on your arm, rubbing up and down. Whether it was empathy for the loss of our loved ones or pity for your past, you weren’t going to put her down when we have bigger problems.

You sit up quickly, “so yes waterbender, but more of a resident healer, and now that I’ve told the enemy my position in our little group I assume,” you turn to look Zuko in his eyes,” you’re gonna target me.” You two stared at each other from across the cave, silent, while Katara glanced back and forth between you two. Your unbothered gaze met his nervous one, “w-why would you think that?” “You’re joking right?” you gestured at him with both hands, “right?!?” He looked at you two, somewhat in thought, and you commented to yourself that this guy must be incredibly thick. Katara took over for you’re lack of words.

“Are you kidding? You’ve had a target on us since we started traveling with Aang! You’re the reason we’re running all the time, and now you and your crazy sister are relentlessly trying to stop us from ending this war and creating peace?” Katara stood up and walked the cave floor like it was nothing, jamming a finger into Zuko’s chest and making him back up into the crystal cave wall.

“Do you even know how many people have lost their loved ones to the fire nation, to YOU? Not just my mother, but full families, and not to mention all the air nomads!” Katara backed up, allowing you to see Zuko’s stunned face. “Katara, he can’t be held accounta-” “You are our enemy no matter what facade you try to pull. You always will be. At least to me.” 

Another silence followed the speech, Katara made her way back to the other side of the cave and back by your side. She sat down quickly, facing away from Zuko, now too fired up to even think of an escape plan. You patted her back to soothe her little and turned back to Zuko, who faced away from us now. Talk about an awkward silence.

“I lost my mother too,” Zuko spoke up,” and,” he sighed,” I’m sorry.” He reached out and grabbed at his hair and squatted down, still looking away from you two. “I’m really sorry.” 

Once again a silence formed and your social ques might not be great, but you thought it might be time for a change of tone. “Hey, at least you can make a decent cup of tea, ya know,” you shrugged and then the instant regret filed in as the silence continued. You sat with one hand on your forehead, while you continued rubbing Katara’s back unconsciously with the other, cursing your comment in your head. Soft murmurs came from Zuko and you looked up from the ground to see his shoulders start to shake a little. Your hand fell off Katara’s back as she turned to look at the firebender too. Okay, good, you’re not the only one that’s confused. 

“Yeah, “ Zuko turned to face us, laughing lightly, “maybe it’s the only thing my uncle taught me that stuck.” You stared for a second, I mean how often do you see this guy even smile, and then huffed out some air and smiled a little at him. Katara didn’t exactly seem as entranced as you, and just let her face soften a little. “Whenever I saw his face,” Katara started, “I just saw the enemy, it’s… weird to see him so,” she thought for a moment, “human.” Zuko stopped laughing and reached up to his scar at the comment. He seemed to think for a moment, “My face,” he whispered. 

Katara softened her stance, “That’s not what I meant.” 

“It’s alright, it’s a reminder for me, the start of my journey. My destiny might not be the Avatar, it might be something I need to find for myself.” 

You stood and walked over to him slowly, almost like you were afraid he’d run. He stayed though and watched you approach him, staring rather nervously at you. He really doesn’t know anything about you, you could be trying to kill him, but something in him let you approach him anyway. When you stood in front of him you reached out to touch his face, specifically his scar. He flinched when you touched his skin, but unconsciously leaned into your hand after.

“You know,” You rubbed over the scar with your thumb, “I could try to heal it.” 

“You can’t, it’s a scar,” Zuko pulled his face out of your hand and looked away, “It’s already healed itself, by itself.” He stared at the ground, while you sighed and put your hand down. You turned when you heard Katara speak up, “I do have the spirit water from the north,” she started,” and between its natural healing properties, and (Y/N)’s healing skills, I think we might be able to do something.” Zuko looked at you, staring into your eyes as if to gauge if you’re telling the truth, “You guys would do that,” he seemed surprised, “for me?” 

You closed your eyes and smiled at him, catching him off guard again, “of course.” Zuko’s face flushed a bit, and Katara caught it as he turned away. Well, that’s rather interesting. 

Saving Zuko from whatever would have occurred after this realization of Katara, Aang and Iroh burst into the cave.

“Katara! (Y/n)!” the Avatar yelled as you two came into view. “Aang!” You two ran and hugged him. You separated from the bald boy, but Katara continued to embrace him, she was rather worried earlier. Keeping a hand on the boy’s shoulder, you turned to watch Zuko embrace his Uncle. You smiled fondly at the two, knowing they really do care for each other. Zuko looked up to find your soft eyes on him, and the flush that was dying down rose back up, and he suddenly found the floor very interesting again. You turned away to talk to Aang about what the plan is now, missing the glare that Aang sent Zuko. And then left with them to fight, adrenaline running through you’re veins, but you feel doubt in the back of your head when you turn to glace at Zuko as you leave. Nah, it’ll be fine. Like he said, he’s finding his own destiny, you should trust him, right? ...Right?


	3. The Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You think about you're mistake, and talk to Aang. There are also lemons.

You could feel the water around you, flowing and shifting with every movement that the Gaang made from the shores of the lake. You sighed and opened your eyes to look up at the clouds floating overhead, and listened to the murmur of your friends while continuing to float on your back in the water. A few more moments passed by and you slowly felt your mind shift back to Ba Sing Se. 

“You’d really do that for me?” “Of course.”

“GAH,” you brought your hands up and slammed them back into the water, “I’m such an idiot.” You ran your hands over your face, shooing away the thoughts that kept creeping back in your mind. You never really ran into Zuko, so maybe you underestimated him, but he really did seem sincere about wanting to change. You sighed, but now your mistake made what he was planning even worse. You basically helped him betray the group and almost kill Aang, or at least it felt that way.

“(Y/N)!”

Maybe if you had paid more attention, you could’ve gotten him at the tea shop. 

“Hey! (Y/N)!”

Yeah, you could’ve done some sick tea bending and stopped this from happening.

“(Y/N)!! YOU OKAY?” You jumped from the water and found yourself falling. Looking down you realized you’d been bending yourself up and out of the lake. Jeez, what the hell is wrong with you, at this rate you’re going to end up drowning yourself. “Sokka, seriously??” You could hear Katara sass the guy as you continued to fall toward the lake. You reached out and focused as much as you could, creating a tall pillar of water to catch you from your own stupidity. In your haste, you made it rise a little to fast and found yourself smacking into your own water. “Damn, that’s gonna leave a mark,” you mumbled as you lowered yourself back into the water. 

You groaned as you continued to float in the water, you really didn’t want to face your master bender friends (and Sokka cough cough) after that show of bending. Despite your efforts to remain limp, you could feel the water pulling you to the shore. 

“So,” Toph started when you got close enough to hear, “You wanna tell us why you’ve got your head in the clouds?” She smiled big and toothy while high fiving Sokka behind her back. Flopping onshore you could feel the water being bended off you and out of your clothes. You continued to lay on the ground and sighed, opening your eyes to see Katara bending the water back into the lake.

“Ya know,” you replied monotone,” just thinking about my terrible mistakes and ignorance that almost killed one of my best and only friends on this planet.” You turned to the blind girl, who looked a little unsettled at your response already, “the usual.” You turned your head back to the sky and listened as Katara sighed and sat down next to you. 

“You can’t possibly believe that Zuko betraying us is your fault, (Y/N).” She helped you sit up, but you continued to slouch over your legs and look at the ground. “I believed him too, and you’re too sweet, of course we didn’t know what he truly intended on doing.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” you sighed, “it just feels like I could’ve done more... like I should’ve seen it coming.”

“How could you have seen it coming if you didn’t even recognize him in the tea shop?” Sokka waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, you even told us he was good looking, remember?” Toph snickered and Sokka and Aang’s head swiveled around to look at you. 

“ You said WHAT?” Sokka and Aang shouted in unison and started laughing with Toph as you groaned and fell back again looking longingly at the water, maybe the drowning would come faster and more consciously than you thought. 

“Excuse me, I’ve never seen the guy! How was I supposed to know he was the coveted ‘Evil Prince’.” Throwing your hands up you made air quotes, “and I’m too old for you three to be bullying me, next time you guys get a paper cut, I’m replacing my healing water with lemon juice.” You glared at the three, who just laughed harder at the threat. You pretended to be offended by the four, even Katara started giggling a little, but couldn’t hold yourself together that long and instead joined them. 

When the laughter died down, Aang stood up and dusted himself off. “I have to head into town, (Y/N) wanna tag along?” He reached down to help you pull yourself up, and you were confused by the question. Usually, Aang would be taking the opportunity to be alone with Katara, but eh whatever, you were getting pruney in the water anyway. “Sure, I do need to start looking for some juicy lemons,” you joked and shrugged as you went to get your tote. Sokka and Toph looked up at you and when you and Aang were almost out of sight you hear a little chorus of “I thought she was JOKING?!” and the two of you laughed to yourselves. 

Shopping was going pretty well, no bargaining required with the extra money that Toph made while tricking the townspeople a few days ago. You walked with Aang through the marketplace, having found what you need (possibly being lemons), you just stared at the liveliness of the market.

“I understand you know,” you glanced as Aang who was just looking ahead into the market, “it’s hard to see how a person could be like that.” Aang looked at you, “It’s hard to doubt people before you’ve even given them a chance.” Ahh Zuko. You should’ve known, honestly. 

“I don’t know, I guess I thought…,” you paused,” I mean, it’s confusing.” You have such a way with words sometimes. “I think it’s because I’ve only heard the stories that you guys have told me about him, and all the suffering you’ve gone because of him and his family.” You sighed and looked back over at Aang, “they all just seemed like stories I guess, but because of that idea in my head, I really feel like I let you guys down. No matter what Katara says,” You turned again to look ahead of yourself, almost running into a child running across the market, “even though I know she’s trying to help.” 

You weren’t looking anymore, but you could feel Aang’s eyes on you. “I know what you mean, ya know.” He turned away, looking down at his feet. “When I heard about the fire nation, and the war when Katara and Sokka found me in that ice, they seemed like stories too. It was so… different, the world that is, from when I grew up. The people in the fire nation, they were just... the fire nation,” he scrunched up his face a little, “not the enemy.” You continued to listen, this goofy little boy started sounding a lot more like a monk nowadays.

“I know I have to fight the firelord during the ambush, but the only reason I will is because of the people that I’ve met and seen that showed how ruthless the firelord actually is. Zuko, he’s always been confusing.” He looked up at you this time, smiling a little, “He actually saved me once,” he huffed out some air, “but then he kept trying to capture me again. He sending a lot of mixed signals.” You laugh at the boy, obviously trying to lighten the mood more.

“All I’m really trying to say here is,” he stopped walking and turned to face you, you stopped too, confused, “I don’t blame you for anything.” At first, you think to yourself, I already knew that, Aang is too nice for that, but the next thing you know you’re crying. Big alligator-seal tears start falling down your face, and Aang starts freaking out. “Hey! What’re cry- this was supposed to be good!” He starts waving his free hand around, trying to get you to stop, “I thought you were getting down on yourself too hard and I just wanted to make sure you knew that everything is fine!” You still continued to cry, mind you in the middle of the market, and went to hug the boy. Well as much hugging as you can do when you’re carrying various foods and goodies. Aang and you were already close, he helped you a lot when they found you in the swamp, but that’s a story for another time. You figure that Aang would understand you in more ways than you understand yourself yet. 

“Gah, I’m sorry,” you wiped away your tears as you pulled away from him, “I’m just being stupid.” Aang patted your back as you two continued your way back to the group. Aang started again, “It’s alright, I just hope you know that you are our friend, our family now, and we will always have each other’s backs.” He thought about it for a moment, “even if Toph doesn’t act like it.” You started laughing again, still clearing your face of tears. “Thanks, twinkle toes.” Using Toph’s little nickname, as you two walked together down the dirt road and towards the lake. 

….

“Wait you actually got them…” Sokka gazes at the lemons while Toph gazes more at the ground. “Well yeah, got to keep you two on your toes,” you said as you walked to your tent. You looked over your shoulder at them, a smile on your face, “maybe you two should be more cautious when your handling letters, okay?” and then opened the flap and disappeared into the tent. You could hear Aang and Katara laughing together as you laid down and hoped for much more peaceful days ahead. 

Which in hindsight, is pretty dumb of you to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be Zuko based, but after that there will hopefully be a more fluid plot going on. 
> 
> Also, I'm trying not to just add you into the story, or just put you into another character's place, so the story might not line up exactly with the show, but I want to make it more interesting than just basically reading the show again! So I hope you like it!


	4. The Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko is conflicted, but comes to a final but hard conclusion.

Golden eyes watched the moon glow out the window, a pretty sight. However, the night sky wasn’t exactly on the prince’s mind this evening. “I really have to get my shit together,” Zuko mumbled under his breath. He dragged a hand over his face as he sat on his bed in the dead of night. He had awoken from a nightmare a couple hours before, this one really keeping him wake. Zuko took a deep breath and fell back down on his bed, hoping that if he just closed his eyes he could sleep again, he really wanted to just sleep again. But his memories obviously had something else in mind for the sleep deprived prince. 

The prince has been having nightmares for a long time, I guess that’s what trauma can do to a thirteen-now-sixteen-year-old boy. Usually revolving around his mother, the occasional reliving of he banishment from the fire nation by his own father, his sister sending lightning his way, and finally his uncle perishing by Zuko's own hands. Talk about family issues. But since he has returned to the fire nation, they’ve revolved around something different, Ba Sing Se. This last one was something… new.

When the Avatar gets struck down by Azula, the usual nightmare ends with your shocked and saddened face as you ran with Aang in your arms away and to safety. That’s just a memory of what he saw that night, but lately, his mind has been taking it upon itself to create what it thinks is something better. What a great idea brain, make him more traumatized. 

Now, Aang in this new one, is replaced by you and your kind close eyed smile. The attack does not come from Azula this time, no, it comes from his own two hands. The best part is when you don’t leave with your friends and survive, much like the real event, but instead, you’re just dead. And he gets to watch your body go limp. No amount of Lake Laogai brainwashing could get that out of his head. 

“I don’t even understand,” Zuko grabs at his hair, “why does it even matter?” In his head, you’re the enemy, right? It seems weird to him to think of you as an enemy, or anything at all. He met you twice! What part of his brain latched onto you? The only thing that even stuck out with you was how nice you were to him, even after he lied to you. Maybe it wanted to hold on to the only genuine kindness he’s received in years from someone other than his uncle. 

Zuko groaned as he thought about the other person he let down from that night. Iroh was always there for him, why did he do that? All Iroh ever wanted was to help him, so how could he do that to him. So many things that don’t add up. Too many things to think about. He really wishes he could just sleep…. And there is the sunrise. 

The boy sat up and just stared at the window, maybe if he glares at it enough he can burn the sun up. He sits for a second before his door bursts open revealing Azula, already dressed for the day. Yeah, he didn’t think the “exploding the sun” was a great idea anyway. 

“Zuzu, we are going to the beach,” Azula starts but doesn’t look Zuko in the eye while speaking, instead appears to be checking her cuticles, “don’t bring your drab attitude with you.” She sauntered out of the room, apparently saying everything she intended on saying. A flash of your smiling face went through his mind, showing how much more thoughtful the enemy is than his own sister. Zuko groaned and fell back onto his bed, running his hand through his hair.

“Maybe…” Zuko whispered to himself, “I am in the wrong place…”

Sitting for a moment, Zuko suddenly got up and went to get ready for this supposed beach day. 

\----

“I never pegged you for a beach guy,” Mai sat down under the umbrella next to the grumpy prince, “more of a ‘sulk in my bedroom on a sunny day’ kind of vibe from you.” She smiled as much as Mai ever smiles, but Zuko continued to stare out at the water. “You doing okay?” She patted Zuko’s shoulder, startling him out of his trance, “oh yeah,” he sighed, “I’m fine.” While she could tell he wasn’t, she dropped it, hoping to help the situation more. 

Mai is the closest thing to a friend that Zuko has. While she did have a thing for him back then, she is more interested in a certain acrobat now, and even though she doesn’t have these feelings anymore, she tries to help Zuko out as much as she can. She does still enjoy his grumpy company.

“Well, if you do want to talk,” she stood up and brushed the sand off her dress, “I’m always here.” “Thanks, Mai,” Zuko looked up at her and smiled a little, and watched as she left his view, walking over to meet the girls. Zuko turned back to face the water, watching it rise and wash up onto the shore. This is one thing, he thinks to himself, that you can’t really help me with. His pondering out the window turned into his pondering at the beach. I mean how do you bring up ‘contemplating if your destiny isn’t defeating the Avatar and thinking you’re on the wrong side of this war’ casually in a conversation? He sighs and closes his eyes, and listening to the waves move back and forth.

Zuko wipes at the spilled tea on the table. “I really am sorry,” a customer apologizes from beside the table, “it slipped.” Zuko finished up and stood at his full height, “It’s not a problem, enjoy the rest of your time here,” he smiled a little and then turned and walked away. His smile dropped, where am I…, Ba Sign Se? The shop was decorated the same as the one Iroh had owned back during their time in the Earth Kingdom. How did I- what’s happening? Zuko heard a noise coming from the back of the shop, cups clinking together, probably more tea being prepared. Uncle? He could feel the adrenaline start pumping as he quickly made his way to the back of the shop only to stop when he saw his own reflection in the mirror. 

What the hell is happening? The face Zuko saw in the mirror was his own, but at the same time, it wasn’t. The scar, the one thing that reminds him of his father, the one thing that marks the banished prince, is gone. Replaced by clear skin, his face symmetrical. 

The sound of curtains moving makes Zuko practically jump out of his skin, his whole world spinning without him even moving his head. Golden eyes land on your figure, holding two trays full of tea and assorted snacks, assumingly for the customers. “Oh good,” you look up at Zuko who is still standing there in shock, “could you help a girl out?” You smiled big at him holding a tray out, which he took rather slowly out of your hands. You weren’t dressed in your normal water tribe clothing, instead, you had an earth kingdom ensemble that matched his own. You smiled gratefully at him and walked around him to tend to the customers. Zuko watched you walk away and speak so kindly to the customers. He felt like… he missed this. He doesn’t even know where that’s coming from, he’s doesn’t even know what is happening, but his eyes stayed locked on you. 

After addressing them, you made your way to the back of the shop again, but this time while passing Zuko, you stood on your toes and kissed his cheek. Zuko shot up and almost dropped the tee tray he was holding onto. “Hey! Oh jeez are you alright?” you questioned and grabbed his shoulders as if to steady him. If his face wasn’t already burning, your additional comforting touch wasn’t helping, but he managed to reply, “what was that for?” “Wha- What? The kiss?” you huffed out some air and smiled at the boy anyway, backing away but still reaching out, touching his face now. “You’re so weird,” But you continued,

“It’s because I love yo-”

Cold water met Zuko’s face and the shadow of Azula stood above him, empty bucket in tow. “Come on sleepyhead, you’ve been out for hours.” Zuko could have sworn it felt like two seconds. Azula and Ty Lee started walking away, assuming back to their house on the beach. Mai dropped a towel onto Zuko’s head, “you could’ve just said you were tired you know, you had me worried.” She waved a small wave and walked away toward the same direction as the girls. Zuko looked back out at the water, now orange with the reflection of the sunset and back down at his own hands. He sighed and started to stand, heading back to the house as well, however not before looking back out at the water. 

Walking in the front door of the estate, Zuko was drying his hair still as he passed by a mirror. Taking a step back he took a look at his reflection. The towel covering the right side of his face slowly fell onto his shoulders revealing the scar he despised ever so much. The scar that was given to him by his own father, a constant reminder of his own failures if one was to call them that. Zuko brought his hand up to touch the scar, gently touching under his eye. His hand tightened into a fist, which he brought down on the table that sat in front of the mirror. He grimaced as fist met wood, but he came to a conclusion that very second. 

“What was that Zuzu?” Azula popped around the corner, looking for some kind of entertainment apparently. “It was nothing,” he walked past her and away from the mirror, “I’m going to bed.” Zuko walked off into the hallway, in the direction of the room he was staying. Azula’s eyes followed him, a frown forming on her face, but Zuko was too busy to realize that his sister may just be on to his change of tone. 

No, he was too busy trying to find a way back….

The solstice, that’s it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that the rest of this story will be alright, the next chapter should start after the solstice.


	5. The Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko confronts the team about joining, and he didn't seem to reach them in his apology. But maybe he has someone on his side. Maybe.

“Hey, uh, Zuko here!” waving across the way, eyes locked together. Silence passed over the camp, and a wind blew the leaves back and forth. Zuko’s hair passed over a sweaty forehead and the boy swallowed. Two big eyes watched his every move, and when he shifted to the side, they took off. Zuko sighed probably his hundredth sigh this day, as he watched the fluffy rodent scurry away and into the forest surrounding him.

The man sighed and flopped back on the ground, “How am I ever gonna make them believe that I’m on their side now,” he fell onto his back, “especially after that.” Memories from Ba Sign Se flooded his head and he groaned again. If all the attempts to capture the avatar didn’t ruin his image with the group, trying to kill him might have tossed it out the window. He opened his eyes again staring at the underneaths of the trees he had decided to camp near. 

“I don’t have time for this!” He propped himself up and stood, grabbing whatever he needed for the walk over to the air temple that he knew the group was residing in. This isn’t about righting his wrongs, it’s about saving the world. He slung his bag around his shoulders and then made off into the forest, heading toward what could be his only opportunity to start something new and help stop what his family has started.

\---

The whole Gaang was tense with uncertainty, I mean who does this guy think he is? Trying to capture and kill them ninety percent of the time and taking advantage of two of the team member’s empathy will put you in the bottom ten on the ‘Potential Friends’ list. “What do you want from us?” Katara watched his every move, telling herself in her head, she’s not going to fall for it again, “and make it quick.” Sokka had his sword at the ready, and Toph had already surveyed the area, ready for any sign of attack. Even Aang was proving to be intimidating to the fire bender, not even saying anything, just observing the prince from the other end of his staff.

“I understand that you don’t trust me but plea-” “We DID trust you,” Zuko attention turned back to Katara, but man, who he is supposed to look at the moment anyway, “and you threw it away, so really, get to the point.” 

Zuko, still having his hands raised in surrender, sighed quickly. “I can teach him firebending,” Zuko said, fairly fast but to be fair the girl said to talk fast. “We don’t need you to teach him anything.” Katara shifted her feet, strengthening her stance, and glanced at Aang, who was unfazed. Sokka spoke up, “Yeah we don’t need any of your evil bending around here,” he held his ground and stance, “so beat it, bozo.” Zuko could hear Toph whisper ‘bozo’ under her breath questioningly. 

Zuko stepped back again, getting a little to close to the edge of the temple floor for his taste, but tried to speak again, “he doesn’t stand a chance against my father without mastering all of the elements,” he gestured to the avatar, “he won’t be able to defend against his attacks without being able to bend it back.” Zuko then stayed quiet, looking from face to face belonging to the benders (and Sokka cough cough) in front of him. Said group continued to watch him carefully, silent as well and Zuko can only hope they were contemplating what he said. A couple of sounds were made from behind the benders, and their stances faltered a bit, but they kept their eyes on the fire bender. Zuko, however, looked up and around them to see what was the source of the noise. 

“Hey guys, I know you wanted beef stew but I know that Aang doesn’t eat meat, so I decided to make it a veggie stew with cooked beef on the side. I know the broth won’t be as flavorful, but I hope that you guys,” you looked up and slowed down, “will still like it, uh.” You stopped and held the jug of stew lower in your hands. Slowly taking in the scene you slowly put the jug on the floor and stood back up, as if you were to make a sudden movement you’d start another small war. “So I’m guessing we are gonna wait on the stew then,” you nervously glanced at all your friends before making eye contact with Zuko, who had been watching your movements from the beginning. 

“Yeah, soups gonna have to wait, doc,” Toph answered you while staying on her feet, still ready to throw down, but much more relaxed than the others appeared. “Actually it’s a stew,” Toph threw a dead-faced glance back at you, “no I get it, not the time, yeah.” You raised your hands as if to surrender yourself. 

“Why should we believe you this time,” Katara brought the attention back to the situation at hand, “when you already betrayed us back in Ba Sing Se.” Zuko sighed, and for a moment you think he glanced over to your face, sadly. “I have nothing, no one, to go back to,” he started, “not that I’d ever want to. I couldn’t figure out why being back at the hand of my father felt wrong, but it’s because it’s not my density to be there. My destiny is to fight alongside you all, the avatar, and to teach him.” Zuko took a step forward to emphasize his point, but the Gaang got further into battle stances. You still stood behind everyone, knowing your defensive techniques wouldn’t aid too much, but for some reason, you felt bad for him. You shouldn’t, you told yourself, you stupid girl, he already pulled this ‘sad face and dead mom’ act on you before, get it together. 

Aang stepped forward and lowered his staff, “I don’t need to learn firebending,” he started to walk toward Zuko but still stopped out of his reach, “I will defeat your father without it.” “You can’t! He will kill-” Zuko started to walk toward Aang, trying to reason with him, but was stopped by the end of a staff almost hitting him in the nose. “Leave.” Aang turned and walked away from Zuko, all the way to stand beside you, further into the temple. The rest of the group kept their ground, but Zuko kept his gaze on Aang’s retreating form but shifted from the boy to you.’ Ah shit,’ you thought as you sighed. 

“If you won’t take me as a friend, then,” he got on his knees still keeping eye contact with you, “then take me as a prisoner.” You shook your head and looked at him confused, just what is this guy trying to pull. You gasped as Katara struck him water, drenching the guy, “No! We don’t want you here at all, prisoner included!” she yelled and the look that Zuko gave the crowd was just… pathetic. Even Aang flinched a little at the sound of water hitting him. Ugh, he looked like a wet puppy,... I mean how are you not supposed to feel bad for this guy?

The rest of the group held their stances and Zuko took it as a sign to leave this time, completely defeated after the dismissal, and honestly, humiliated too. He stood back up still looking at the ground, and slowly glanced up at you, who was softly looking toward him, albeit a little worried. ‘I really missed out,’ Zuko thought to himself, ‘these are good people.’

Zuko looked away and down from you and started to walk out of the temple. Before he could get too far, he felt his clothes lighten and dry off and looked in the direction of the water that was leaving his clothes and hair to see you bending it toward yourself. He stood for a second, keeping eye contact with you for probably an inappropriate amount of time, and you looked at the group who were obviously less tense but confused at your choice of action with the enemy. You turned back to him and smiled slightly, waved goodbye, and then turned to walk back to the forgotten stew. Zuko watched you walk away for a second but saw the glares that the rest of the group were giving him and decided to leave before things got ugly again. He didn’t turn around after walking past the corner, too much focus on forming a new plan, and maybe thinking a little too much about something else.

“Why did you do that, (Y/N),” Katara asked, not angrily, but simply questioning the out of place act. You looked embarrassed a little bit, but turned to start working on serving the stew you made, “I just… don’t like wasting water ya know.” You turned to face away from them now preparing bowls for the four of them when Sokka chimed in, “but we have a fountain? We have plenty of water to go around,” he shrugged his shoulders and then grinned as you flushed a little, embarrassed at the counter. 

“You’re right,” you started sweetly, and Sokka smiled triumphantly at catching your lie, “we do have plenty.” Sokka didn’t have enough time to stop the gallons of water that dropped on his head, but he was right, we had plenty. 

Soon everyone had eaten and you were put on dishes duty by a certain salty sword-wielding water tribe boy. Eh, you think it’s still pretty worth it. What surprised you though, was that Toph actually volunteered to help you. Yeah you’re still kinda scared she’s up to something, but at least the dishes are getting done faster.

“Hey, doc,” you jumped a little, startled out of your thoughts by the earth bender. She started again after you hummed in response, “what do you think of him?”

“Uh, who are we talking about?” you question, but you’re pretty sure you already know what she is going to bring up. I mean you did help him out right in front of everyone, you shouldn’t be surprised they weren’t satisfied with the response at dinner. Toph stopped wiping down the bowl in her hand but kept looking at the dish, not that looking at you would really help. “Zuko, ya know, what do you think about all this,” she talked a bit lower than her normal volume as if she was afraid to be heard by the others. “I,” you bended the water off the bowl you were rinsing and placed it on the side, “I’m not… really sure, to be honest.” You sighed, “I feel like I’m being tricked all over again,” you looked down at your hands, “but for some reason...., I don’t know Toph.” You grimaced and sat down on a ledge around the fountain. 

Toph sat down next to you and rested her face on her hands. A silence formed around you two, the falling water of the fountain not even soothing you from the impending speech you were sure the girl was going to give you. Suddenly, she spoke up.

“He was telling the truth,” you glanced surprised at the girl, “the whole time.” “Wha- really?” you looked back at your hands, maybe… maybe you weren’t crazy. Toph leaned back and raised her hands above her head to stretch them out. “Yeah, and I feel kinda bad for him ya, know,” she lowered her arms and started softly, “I mean he has nowhere to go, and yeah he’s tried to kill us multiple times, but,” she stopped for a moment, “no yeah I don’t really have a counter to that one.” You laugh a little, “ I understand what you mean though,” you say and look out at the other temples, “he’s still a human.”

You and Toph sit there for a minute in silence, enjoying getting that feeling off your backs. Tophs grunts and stands up, “Well I better be off, I have a couple of guys I have to make fun of before I turn in,” she raised her hand behind her in a wave. “Hey! What about the rest of the dishes,” gesturing to the pile next to you, very well knowing she couldn’t see it, “you said you’d help out!” She stopped and turned to you with her hands resting in her pockets, “Nah, I’m good, sounds boring,” she smiled as you scoffed at her but you smiled anyway, knowing the offer was just an excuse she used to talk to you. 

Toph turned and started walking away, “And by the way,” you looked up, already starting to wipe the remaining dishes down, “I may have found a certain fire bender with anger issues’ camp and may or may not have made a tunnel that leads to it,” she stomped her foot and an opening formed to your left, “in case some weird water bender wanted to talk to him.” You looked surprised at her, and then smiled and laughed a little at how she presented this whole plan to you. “Thanks, Toph,” you said quietly. She continued to saunter away from you, “Don’t mention it, doc,” and even though you couldn’t see it, her voice carried a smile in it as she disappeared into the temple doors. 

You watched her walk away, still smiling to yourself, and then began to think of a plan to approach the exiled prince. Maybe you should bring some food with you, I mean how good can this guy be at toughing it in the wild after being pampered. You started making these plans in your head and only snapped out of it when you glanced back at the pile of dirty dishes you were punished with.

You sighed, I guess chores come before mending the world back together, huh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts the fluid plot of the story, so from here on the story should be back to back. Or let's hope lmao.


	6. The Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go to visit Zuko in the forest to find out if he's truly changed

“This is stupid isn’t it.” You look down in the bag that you put together for the fire bender. The leftover food from dinner, clean water from the fountain, and even an extra blanket that you carried around for the colder nights the group faced, stared up at you almost tauntingly. The bag screams too much. Especially too much for someone your friends considered an enemy. “Yeah, this is dumb,” you sighed as you continued your trek through the tunnel conveniently made just for you. 

“If they found out about this…, ugh I don’t even know what they would say,” you mumbled to yourself, “or what they would do.” You continued on climbing through the tunnel, a little slower as your thoughts and anxieties caught up to you. They wouldn’t kick me out, right? Like Aang said, I’m family….right? You rubbed your face with your hands trying to rid yourself of these stupid thoughts. Of course, they wouldn’t kick you out, at worst Katara would give you the silent treatment…. 

Right? Ugh, you just need to calm down and focus on the task at hand. Speaking of the task, you were nearing the exit of the tunnel and you started to lighten your footsteps. You could hear the crackle of a fire moving in the wind, but also the voice of a certain teenage boy.

“... was I expecting? Complete trust and welcoming arms? I’m so stupid!” You heard a thump from what you can guess was a tree and a repressed grunt, and a small, “shit that hurt.” Peering around the cave wall and sticking your head out to look at the camp, you saw the exiled prince laying on his back now, arms held wide, and looking up at the trees above him. You almost laughed at the sight of the guy being so vulnerable and child-like but remembered you’re snooping and can’t blow your cover, plus this is fun. 

Maybe he actually is playing with us and he’ll admit it out loud! “I wish Uncle was here,” he said softly, “he’d know how to show them I’ve changed.” Alright, maybe not. 

It made you kind of happy to know that he wasn’t trying to trick you guys again, but you still feel wary about this whole thing. I mean Ba Sing Se wasn’t that long ago, ya know. Shuffling broke you out of your thoughts, and you watched the prince again, seeing how he shifted into a position to lean back against a tree. His head resting back onto the tree, his eyes remained closed and his eyebrows furrowed at the mixture of thoughts running through his head. He sighed, and you were about to step forward to make yourself known when he started mumbling again. 

“And why does it matter so much to me what that girl thinks,” he opened his eyes to look at his hands, “this is all so stupid.” 

You didn’t even think before you stepped forward, “Katara will come around, I promise- AAH HOLY SHIT.” 

You dropped to the ground and held your arm up and close to your chest, covering a burning red patch that marked your skin. You puffed out some air and hissed in another breath, and went to feel the wound, as the gauge the pain levels. “Fuck fuck fuck,” you cursed under your breath as you lightly grazed the wound, yeah that’s not a ‘buck up buttercup’ kinda burn we have going on. You need to treat this fast. A hand on your shoulder brought you out of your little world of pain, a little to fast as you gasped and fell back on your butt. You gazed up at the inducer of your pain, who still had his hand reached out to help, but no words were said. Watching him with big eyes, you cringed into yourself again as the pain flared up on your arm, sparking the man into action. 

“Wha- I can help you, uh” he stepped back away from you and then realized he doesn’t really have anything to help and turned back to face you, “I’m sorry, uh, I’m really sorry I didn’t know who it was and I, I’m sorr-” “Water,” you gasped at him, snapping him out of his apology. 

“What?” “Water, in the bag,” you gestured over to the goodie bag you brought over for him that had been scattered when you initially got blasted in the first place. “Oh okay, uh, shit,” he ran over to the bag and started rummaging through it until he found the container holding your saving grace. Passing it to you without a word he took a few steps back, as he was preparing for you to… hit him I guess? 

You took the container from his hands and quickly uncapped it, bending about half of it out and onto your crispy hand. You sighed already in relief from the cool nature of the water and start your healing. The water began glowing a soft blue, radiating from the palm of your unburnt hand, casting a glow onto your and Zuko’s faces. You took a deep breath and focused on healing the burn, hopefully, it would be entirely gone due to the timely manner you got to it. 

Complete silence swept over you two, save for the sounds of the forest, as you healed what the other had done. Glancing at him, Zuko watched in extreme focus, eyes big as you moved your hand back and forth over the wound, making it shrink and heal right before his eyes. 

You felt no more piercing pain in your arm, it was reduced to just a dull feeling on your skin, and you released your wound from the healing prison and let the water fall into the dirt beside you. You sighed and fell back onto your back, and raised your hand from the wound, revealing a small patch of pink scarred skin. It was relatively smaller than the original burn was and didn’t hurt as you grazed it with your other hand. Letting your hands fall onto your chest, you took a deep breath and closed your eyes, relaxing from the moment of panic. 

After a few moments of silence, you heard rummaging to your left and looked up at Zuko who was putting everything back into your bad that had previously spilled out. You didn’t even notice he moved and honestly you forgot for a second where you even where. A little dramatic, hon?

Zuko picked up the container closest to you last, probably trying to not disturb you but froze halfway into putting it back in the bag when he realized you were watching him. He shot up to stand above you and bowed mumbling stuttered apologies. However, when he went to bow, the previously mentioned full bag slipped out of his and sucker-punched you in the gut. 

Motherfucker.

He just stared at you as your body cringed around the bag and you groaned as you flopped onto your side facing away from him. “Why does this keep happening?!” you heard him whisper shout to himself and when you turned your head and glanced back at him he had sat down on the ground, with his head in his hands, looking as sulky as ever.

Zuko heard you shift your body and looked up from his hands to see the bag shoved in his face. Glancing around the bag at your face you smiled a little back at him, “this is for you,” you said airly, I mean you did just get a bag to the stomach. He reached out and looked into it as if he didn’t just pick everything up and then slowly looked back up at you. You had propped yourself onto your elbows now, still looking at him with that goofy grin. ‘How is she not even… mad?’, Zuko thinks to himself as he watched you prop yourself up to sit like he was, barely out of reach of each other. 

“Wh- for what? Why?” he questioned completely bewildered by your actions, his rejection still going through his head. Did they send you to capture him? ...or worse? He focused back on your kind face, no way. “I thought that you might not have been prepared for staying out in these woods,” you started looking at the fire at a distance and he watched the way the flames reflected off your eyes.

“And I believe you.”

Zuko blinked out of his trance, “You believe me? Why?” Confused, you look away from the fire and toward the boy, “... do you not want me to? Becaus-” “No!” The outburst startled you for a second, the volume almost echoing in the forest, and then you started to laugh. “You’re fine, I really do believe that you’ve changed,” you assured him, “and Toph was able to support my radical thoughts too.” Zuko listened to you speak but flashed back to a few moments earlier when he literally attacked you. He groaned, “and now? After that?” He gestured to your arm’s pink marking and you laughed a little, confusing the guy. “I would say,” you thought for a moment, “you’re lucky you hit the healer.” You smiled again at him, softly to assure you meant what you said and he looked shocked for a second before laughing a little to himself, “unbelievable,” he said under his breath, but you still heard it.

“Hey! I’m trying to help you out here buddy,” you pointed a finger at him playfully. “Which I am forever grateful for,” bowing his head down in a serious nature. “Woah, uh you don’t have to be so… weird about it,” you shooed him a little, trying to get rid of the formality he brought into the conversation, “I just wanted to let you know I’m on your side with this, even if the others aren’t.” Zuko brought his head back out of the bow and looked at you as you looked off to the side in thought, realizing how much this probably took out of you. 

He looked toward the fire, not sure if he’d be able to get through this all while still looking you in the face. “I’m sorry,” He started and you went to stop him but he continued, “about the cave, about Aang.” He laughed a little, “even the tea shop,” you looked up at him and laughed a little yourself. That was such a simpler day, but stupidly ridiculous. “And, I’m sorry about that,” he pointed back to your arm and then looked at your face, “I’m sorry for everything.” You two stared at each other for a few moments and you began to smile again, “I forgive you.”

Now Zuko really shouldn’t be surprised at the moment, but he isn’t used to this kind of treatment, and he doesn’t even know what to say. “I had already forgiven you before I came here,” you assured him, making yourself small and looking toward the fire, “that’s why I brought food, which reminds me, did you eat yet?” Zuko still a little stunned just utters a quiet no and you spring up to grab the leftovers and some fruit that you had brought in the bag to give to him. 

“I don’t need that, don’t worry about me-” Zuko tried to stop you but his stomach grumbled as he stood, voicing his hunger. The boy blushed, embarrassed because he didn’t take care of himself, proving your reason for bringing all this stuff in the first place. You laughed a little and gave him the package of meat out of the bag and went to sit down closer to the fire. 

“Alright so what’s your plan,” you ask him, changing the subject as he went to go eat. You could make a muffled ‘what plan’ from the fire bender and you were surprised, did he give up already? “Well, what are you going to do to get onto their side?” You sounded exasperated, what do you mean he doesn’t have a plan? He swallowed his mouthful and shrugged, “I don’t know what to do, I mean I practically spilled my whole heart on the floor and still got drenched,” he sighed, “I don’t think I have very many options.” It felt bad to see how defeated the guy was, and you just stood by when he was getting attacked by your own friends. 

“Hmm,” you thought for a moment, “maybe I can subtly mention you often, and then they’ll like... like you more!” You smiled big like you just solved the world’s biggest problems, and Zuko deadpan looked at you making your smile fall. “Well, sorry ‘man-without-a-plan’, at least I’m coming up with ideas,” you sassed and hunched over your legs a little more. Zuko kept eating and a silence formed over you two as you thought of a plan so the others would except him. 

“Well,” he put down the finished meal, “why do you trust me? Maybe you can convince them with your perspective.” You looked over to him wary, “I dunno, one of the reasons I trust you is because you haven’t really attacked me, besides this,” you pointed to your arm and a quick ‘sorry’ came from Zuko before you continued, “and I don’t really think you can un-attack them.” You both sighed at another failed idea, but you suddenly shot up, “I also see you as a human!”   
Zuko looked at you confused, “I am a human?” “Nono, like I never saw you as the enemy, I just see you as… I dunno a guy?” you questioned your own choice of words but you got your point across. Zuko felt a little ping in his chest when you called him ‘just a guy’ but he ignored the strange feeling and egged you on. “Soo what I have to do is make you a person in their eyes,” you smiled and it stopped Zuko from mentioning that you pretty much already said this before, but let you keep going. 

“Uh,... what’s your favorite animal? You leaned closer to him, making him lean back a little. “I’m not sure?” “You don’t know your favorite animal?” you looked at him monotony. 

“Well pardon me, I don’t think about it often, I don’t know if you noticed but there is a war going on,” he sassed while his face lit up and he turned a little away from you. You laughed loudly, “It’s nice to hear you have your sass back,” you mentioned, “but that’s no excuse, just try and think a little.” Zuko tried to calm down and get the red off his face, your laugh having made it worse. His mind brought him back to the pond at his home, with his mother. He reminisced as she fed the turtle-ducks small portions of bread, and smiling at him as he did the same. 

“Turtle-ducks.” “Turtle-ducks?” “Yep, turtle-ducks.” He turned to look at you and a hint of red was now on your cheeks as you watched his face closely, even when getting caught. “Alright, that’s straight adorable, what the hell,” you laughed to yourself watching him get red again. You would have to admit though, seeing his face so calm while he was thinking, really made you want to know what he was remembering, but something told you this wasn’t the time. 

You looked up at the sky, “Oh I should probably head back, I’m sure Toph is waiting for my safe return from the evil fire prince.” You smirked at him as you got up to walk toward the tunnel. Zuko groaned and put a hand on his face, “please, don’t call me that,” he mumbled. You got up and brushed the dirt off yourself from the fall. You looked up at him, smiled your closed-eyed smile, and waved goodbye, “Good luck out here.” With your parting wave, you started toward the tunnel from which you came. Zuko saw you walking away and his brain shouted ‘STAY’ and before he knew it, he was up on his feet reaching out for you. “Wait! Will you-” 

Suddenly a wall of earth blocked his view of you, sprouting from the ground beneath his feet. 

“Hey, watch it, buddy,” a voice came from above the two before Toph hopped onto the stone wall, bringing it down and back into the earth. Toph glared up at Zuko with her arms crossed, “what’re you trying to pull here,” she squinted her eyes for the intimidation factor, which made you laugh a little knowing it is purely for show. Zuko stared down at her, and then glanced back up at you with a confused face. You laughed at the dramatic show, making Toph lower her guard and sigh.

“What, am I facing the wrong way?” she turned to face you and shoved a finger in your direction, “listen up buddy-” “No no, you had it right the first time,” you said through a little laugh, “It’s just, he wasn’t pulling anything,” you looked back up at Zuko, “or at least I don’t think he was.” Zuko put his hands up in surrender, “nope, I wasn’t doing anything.” Toph turned back to face Zuko again, “so you weren’t doing anything... gross?” 

Silence formed over the three until you busted out laughing clutching your stomach. Zuko had a hand to his forehead, his whole face ablaze, and mumbled, “no, we weren’t doing anything ‘gross’.” You had tears coming out of your eyes when you started calming down, “Is that, Toph what did you think I was coming to do?” Toph shrugged, “I dunno, be weird together?” You started laughing again, having to prop yourself up on the wall next to the tunnel entrance. You could hear Zuko sigh and turn away from you too, but when you got yourself back to just giggling you looked and saw his ears were red. Reaching out, you grabbed Toph’s shoulder pulling her gently toward the tunnel, “Nothing happened,” you said gently. Zuko whipped around and glanced quickly at your injured arm, you just smiled back up at him and shook your head silently, “let’s leave him alone, I’m sure he’s had enough excitement for the day, I know I have.” 

You wave again as you leave and Toph grunts a ‘goodbye’ to the fire bender before you two enter the tunnel, heading back to the temple. Zuko watched as you two disappeared into the dark and jumped when a wall covered the entrance of the cave, safety covering your tracks. Zuko sighed and returned to his spot by the fire, deciding to go through the supplies you had brought him. He reached in and felt something soft, pulling out a blanket that was obviously designed by the water tribes. He draped the blanket over his shoulder and a scent wafted over him, slightly familiar, but obviously you. I mean, the guy didn’t go around sniffing people but it just made sense that the blanket you gave him belonged to you.

Zuko laid down under the tarped he had tied to the trees, the blanket providing warmth and a soft buffer against the cold ground of the forest. As he fell asleep, Zuko’s mind kept wandering back to you, his new friend, if he could even call you that. He’d have to ask next time he saw you… if he ever saw you again. He was going to see you again… right? Well, he wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon now, he sighed and looked up at the stars. 

He really hoped he would see you again. 

And help save the world and defeat his father…. yeah, that too.

\----

“So what actually happened,” Toph startled you out of your thoughts, probably for the third time today alone. “I told you, nothing happened.” “Yeah nice try, I felt the guy panic when you told me that, what are you covering up?” You sighed, of course, you can’t really slide anything around Toph, “he accidentally burned my arm,” you mumbled hoping she didn’t hear but I mean, come on, you’re literally in a tunnel, you can hear each other’s breaths echoing on the walls.

“Accidentally?! How do you accidentally burn someone?!” Toph had stopped walking and grabbed your shoulder, effectively stopping you too. “I scared him, I guess,” you shrugged, “It’s fine Toph, he even helped me so I could heal it, he really is a good guy now!” Toph squinted her eyes at you for a moment, and you started to sweat for no good reason, but that girl evokes fear very easily. 

“Alright, fine if you say you’re ok,” turning, Toph let go of your shoulder and started through the tunnel again, “but this guy is sounding more and more like an idiot.” You watched her walk for a moment, still stunned but then ran a little to catch up to her. 

“Yeah,” smiling to yourself, pink reaching your cheeks, “a real big idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one and I wrote turtle-ducks four times and I'm still not entirely sure I wrote it right.


	7. The Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a fight that ends better than you expected.

“No! I can’t stay on the wrong side of this war,” he yelled up at the figure, “I will find the avatar and I will help him defeat you.” The darkened shadow started laughing, a deep roar slowly rising in volume. The shadow began to shift and the low laughs became high squawks, making the young fire bender take a step back in defense. The voice traveled around the room, surrounding him on all sides. “Are you saying that you’d help hurt your own family,” the voice fakes sweetness, but pauses, “...Zuzu?” “You aren’t my family,” he turns to leave the temple that housed bad memories, but a new voice stopped him in his tracks. 

“Even… me, Zuko?” The boy’s head spins, stopping on the figure. His mother stood away from him, sadly smiling, just as young as he remembered her. “Mother,” he couldn’t feel his feet moving but his body seemed to float forward and to her open arms. Suddenly he dropped out of his trance and looked down at the grown confused. When he looked back up, Azula stood where his mother once did, glaring through him, as if he wasn’t there at all. He spun around to face her opposition and found you at the front of a formation of your friends. Your face showed obvious distress until Katara cut in front of you, “We trusted you,” Aang stepped forward, “We all trusted you.” “No, NO! You can trust me!” He ran toward the group, the ground moving against him, only stopping when a hand came down onto his shoulder. When he looked he saw his mother again, “I trust you, Zuko.” She smiled down at him in a lovely motherly manner that he craved for all his life. 

The kind smile morphed into something wicked and Zuko felt heat rise from your direction. A wall of flame surrounded your friends, all of them screaming and crying for him to help, but his mother’s grip was too strong. When you caught a glimpse of you, you weren’t crying like the rest, but instead you laid motionless on the ground as flames licked your clothes and body. He began to scream, reaching out to the group, suddenly his mother’s grip disappeared and he fell forward-

Zuko gasped as his head shot forward and out of his short practically nonexistent sleep. He panted for a few moments staring at the dirt in front of him slowly ridding his mind of the sight of burning flesh. He took another deep breath and rubbed his hand over his face, “well that’s what I get for assuming I could get some rest.” The sun had begun to rise and while the world was still dim, the fire bender decided that maybe he should just get ready to start the day. However, looking around Zuko realized that… there is nothing for him to get ready for. His next move was to help the avatar and all hope of that happening relies on a girl he’s met uhh… four times? Zuko sighed and rested his head on his hand, not really much he can do anyway. His body made itself known, growling, and giving its owner something to do at least. 

Getting up, Zuko headed over to the bag that you had brought him last night, grabbing one of the fruits that you must’ve snuck out of the group’s food. He smiled a little at the thought and the idea that you’d do something so sneaky when you are so… much, in person at least. He grabbed the food and made his way to where he slept and grabbed your blanket, carrying it all to sit on top of the rocks that used to house a tunnel to the temple. He sat and draped the blanket over his head and shoulders, protecting him from the cold morning air, and watched the sunrise. 

Even after he had finished his breakfast, he sat until the sun was completely up, still waiting for your group to return, or else he’d have to return and, I guess, ask to join again? What else can he do, threaten them? Ugh, no, he’d have to just wait and see what you ended up doing to convince them, if you were able to. Zuko’s thoughts seemed to stop and get caught up on you. 

He didn’t really understand you. He betrayed you, almost stabbed you, and then actually burned you. And you just keep on smilin’. You gave him a whole ass goodie bag. You can’t possibly be involved in a war like you are and have such a… THAT attitude. In all fairness, he doesn’t know all that much about you, but he finds comfort in your presence. He can’t pin it down but maybe it’s the fact you’ve shown him an amount of kindness that he hasn’t felt since his mother disappeared or that you just seem to treat him like anyone else or how you smile so big as if nothing is ever wrong or that your big eyes that are so- 

Zuko ripped himself out of his thoughts, “You’ve met her FOUR TIMES, dude, pull yourself together!” He sat and covered himself with the blanket as he mumbled to himself more reasons why you shouldn’t be running through his mind like this. Leaves rustled from below his perch on the rocks, startling Zuko from his own reprimanding. Footsteps could be heard, walking through the forest trees.

‘(Y/N)? What did she already talk to them?’ Zuko started detangling himself from the blanket that blocked his view. Getting the blanket off he scanned the forest and camp and was first confused to see the tunnel entrance blocked up. ‘How’d she get up here,’ he thought, ‘Maybe Aang helped her?’ A figure moved out of his peripheral vision and he snapped his head to it, but refrained from saying hello. The shadow appeared to be three times your frame, tall and strong, reminding him of a certain… oh no. The man walked out of the trees, revealing his whole self, forehead tattoo and all. Zuko froze in fear as he watched him walk straight through the camp and back into the forest again, clearly heading toward the temple. ‘Oh shit,’ Zuko thought, ‘OH SHIT.’ Zuko panicked for a second and immediately took off to stop the assassin, leaving your blanket back on the rock and the camp now abandoned. 

\---

Sleep is very rare for the members of the Avatar crew, mostly quick hours between traveling or being chased and even naps while Appa led the way. Most days were run on complete adrenaline, and brute motivation. You had found this out really early into your travels with the gaang, and while some days were worse than others, you always took any opportunity that you could sleep, to sleep. However, being in western air temple, you believed that you’d finally be able to rest without being rushed out of the place. Last night, your delivery to your new buddy may have lasted a little too long, but you thought that you’d get a few extra hours in. I mean, you just got here, we all need to catch a break and rest up. Yeah, sounds nice.

So who’s gonna tell you why you were so rudely awakened by a screaming winged lemur? You groaned and covered your head with your blanket, “Momo, come on my guy, I thought we understood when my eyes are closed, so is your mouth.” Momo kept screaming but jumped up and glided out of the temple and out into the courtyard of the temple, where he continued to throw a lemur tantrum. Someone else can deal with that, I’m sure. You sighed and smiled as you found a new comfortable position in the building that you claimed for yourself. You closed your eyes and began to slowly drift off to sleep again, hopefully not to wake up anytime soon… your eyes shot open, or not. 

The temple floor rumbled below you for a few seconds, the noise dying down making Momo’s cries fade back in. Momo actually sounds a lot like multiple people arguing and running around. Oh shit. 

You spring up and run out of your room, grabbing your container of water to fit around your waist. You looked out at the courtyard and Sokka caught your eye, running into another temple building and you sprint out after him. Catching up in the room, you squat down next to him, watching him look around the door frame, keeping an eye out for… wha- who? “What’s going on,” you tapped Sokka’s arm and turned to stretch your neck to look out and over the windowsill. “It’s him, Sparky Sparky Boom man,” he continued to stare out the door as you huffed at the nickname Sokka so lovingly gave your favorite assassin. You were confused though, “What? How did he find us? Aang said this would be the last place anyone would look for us!” 

Another explosion, courtesy of the boom man himself, cut off any explanation that Sokka might have come up with. The debris and smoke cleared from the courtyard revealing Combustion Man as he stood on a ledge that attached the temple to the wall of the canyon it sits on. Aang ran out from behind another temple dwelling, running forward and toward the offender, jumping off the temple floor and disappearing into the canyon, but not before hearing the familiar sound of his glider opening. Katara ran out from the smoke, water following behind her, before she stopped suddenly and using that momentum to separate and shoot the water toward the man, bending it into ice shards before it met him. An explosion stopped them midair, effectively stopping the shards before it reached its target, and flinging debris back at your close friend who ran to take cover. 

You ran out to the courtyard, deciding that could cover your earthbound friends while they took shots at taking Sparky down. Sokka ran out following you, taking a stance behind you as you followed the man’s next move. Katara moved out from behind the building she just used for cover and stood around her brother, water at the ready for when the air cleared. “Where’s Toph?” you asked the southern water tribe kids without breaking your gaze with the smoke that just started clearing. “I don’t know,” Katara remained focused ahead as she spoke, “I haven’t seen her yet. “We need to find her, we know she's no match for- Zuko?!” Your stance stuttered as the boy appeared next to Combustion Man himself, telling him… something, you couldn’t hear from where you were. Sparky looked away from the fire bender and took another shot, landing it directly in front of you three. Smoke cleared showing your unaffected stance, as well as the two behind you as you release the now liquid shield to fall down and soak into the floor. 

The three of you watch as Aang swept above you all and headed at an extreme speed toward the two men. Another, more distant explosion drew your attention back at Combustion Man and Zuko. Wait.... where’s Zuko? You scanned the area around where the two were standing as Aang took a stab at trying to get the big man off balance. You caught movement at the corner of your eye, and snapped your focus to a dangling Zuko, who was attempting to climb back up a vine to where Aang and Sparky were going at it. “Oh shit,” you gasped, “guys I gotta go help Zuko, Katara keep trying to get the guy in the forehead, Sokka you gotta find Toph and make sure she's safe.” You heard two affirmations and you launched yourself into a sprint along the lower walls of the temple. Spreading ice out in front of you, you slid along the walls and over the gaps of the temple, almost to Zuko… a FALLING ZUKO! You created a path as fast as you could, as his hand left the vine, and you created a small ramp and lept. 

Bodies crashed into each other as such a speed that it felt like they were one for a moment. You grabbed him tightly as your body hit the ground of the air temple floor that sat parallel to your courtyard. The air got knocked out of your lungs and the weight of the boy smashed you into the ground, the momentum flinging you two further into the temple until you hit the rock wall, still intertwined. Zuko laid on top of you, not exactly helping you breath but started shifting after realizing he hadn’t fallen to his death. Zuko propped his head up only to come inches away from your own, as you took deep breaths, trying to get back the oxygen that you were so suddenly stolen. Zuko watched as you opened your eyes, startled, “...hey,” a breathy voice greeted, “you mind getting off me buddy boy? You don’t exactly weigh nothing.” 

Zuko grunted and got up quickly, grabbing your arm to help you get up. You winced as he pulled you up and grabbed your shoulder, “that’s gonna hurt tomorrow,” you mumbled to yourself. Looking out at your friends who were still trying to combat the man, you saw Toph had joined the action, launching boulders at and around the man while trying to remain safe behind temple walls. 

“TOPH, NEED A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE!” you stomped heavily on the ground which Zuko just watched as you appeared to be jumping invisible rope. Toph raised her hand in a thumbs up and threw a couple gestures out toward your direction. “What are you doin-” the ground shook a bit as a thin earth bridge formed from your side of the temple leading straight to the courtyard. You grabbed Zuko’s arm and sprinted over the bridge quickly, almost making it to the otherside when an explosion was heard behind you two and the bridge shook and started to crumble. You practically threw Zuko forward, you falling slightly, but your arm was grabbed by the firebending boy, hauling you up and over the edge. Zuko used a little too much strength and pulled you stereotypically into his chest on accident, practically embracing you. You two stared at each other for .1 seconds before another explosion threw you two to the side, this time you landing on Zuko. Jeez, is this really gonna be the whole fight? You fall on Zuko, Zuko falls on you, oh I wonder what could possibly happen next! 

You didn’t give the situation the time of day instead you flung yourself up, apologized for the position and then headed to where you saw Sokka. Zuko laid on the floor for a few moments and then remembered the severity of the situation. You ran up next to the water tribe boy, Zuko following shortly behind you as you all leaned up against the wall and out of the view of Combustion man. “We need an actual plan, he just explodes whatever we throw at him,” Sokka turned to face you, “what if we… why is Zuko here.” 

“Hey” “He’s helping, Sokka please continue.” “uhh… Okay, well what if we got Toph to launch a big chunk at him, but before he blows it up, you separate it with some water and both you and her launch small earth and ice debris at him, hopefully hitting him in the head?” You nodded and ran over to Toph, Zuko almost following after, but is kept in place by Sokka, and watched as an explosion hit in between you two. You turned the corner and ran into the room where Toph was keeping a low profile. You explained the simple plan to the girl that found it was very doable. Hopefully the two of you could focus enough at such a distance to keep the speed you need on the debris. Aang and Katara continued to dodge and distract the man, trying to land blows themselves. Toph saw an opening and threw a chunk of the earth toward the man, you following close behind with water from the fountain, covered from view by the earth. Combustion man saw the attack, forming an explosion to destroy the rock, but you took the water and spliced the rock before the explosion could hit, instead exploding deep down in the canyon. The now sharp rocks and newly formed ice headed at the same speed toward the man seemingly going to work to knock the man down. However, he launched another explosion right in front of himself, effectively blocking out the projectiles, but shooting himself back. When the debris cleared he stood from his kneeling position and glared down to where you and Toph were hiding out. You grabbed the girl’s arm reading to run, but the man suddenly jerked forward, falling down into the canyon, hitting the water at the bottom and being flushed down the river. 

You looked stunned as you released the girl, “what? What happened? Did we do it?” You looked down in the canyon, not seeing the man, Sokka cheering from the other side of the courtyard, “BOOMERANG ALWAYS WINS!” You laughed at him, “I think you know how it went down,” you continued to laugh as Toph clapped and whistled. Aang and Katara lowered themselves into the temple and congratulated Sokka on his aim, which the boy gladly took and added to his already large ego. You whooped and cheered along with Toph, looking over at Zuko who smiled at all the friends celebrating the victory. You smiled at him when he looked over at you and the girl, realizing he got caught, he quickly looked away and back at the boomerang wielder. You revealed in the moment, not so often you get this adrenaline and good feeling in the group, especially after the failed invasion a couple days ago. It felt... nice to win.

“... what is Zuko doing here.” Oh shit you forgot about that. You shot forward and stood in front of the firebender with your arms raised, surprising everyone, including Zuko. “He’s cool and good! I mean he saved me earlier, wellIdontthinkanyonereallysawthat, but it did happen! Did you know he likes turtle-ducks? Wow, so relatable right? hahahaha, uh, he really is goo-” 

Sokka stepped out in front of you, standing to face Katara. “He helped me take Sparky Sparky Boom Man down,” He started and you looked surprised up at Zuko, who seemed to not want the attention from you so close, “If it wasn’t for his comment that the plan wouldn’t be enough then we would’ve failed again.” Katara seemed to think about it more, and you stepped up in front of Aang, who didn’t look nearly as affected by Zuko’s presence. 

“I know I wasn’t here when he attacked you all, but I know he has changed this time, I really do,” you looked down into the boy’s eyes, “and I know you’re afraid of firebending, but it’s the only way you can defeat the Firelord.” You smiled down at him, “the fire nation is just… the fire nation, right?” He looked at you for a second before his face softened at you, stepping away from you and striding toward the fire bender. “I need a firebending teacher, and… I trust you.” “That’s great, thank you so muc-” “But my friends need to be alright with you too.”

Aang looked over at Toph first, “I trust him, he never once lied yesterday, and I think he could help us out.” You were next, you just looked up to Zuko, who was watching the whole ordeal like his life depended on it, which it kinda did, and you just smiled and nodded at Aang who smiled back at you and moved onto Sokka. “I’m still a little wary… but I think he would be a big asset to the team. And even if he does betray us, we got this,” he raised his sword above his head, and Zuko swallowed a lump in his throat and laughed a little nervously.

Finally, Katara, she locked her eyes on Zuko as if she could see right through him, and then shifted her view over to you. A wordless question was asked between the two girls, ‘are you sure’, and you nodded at her, “Aang needs a firebending teacher, so if it helps us win then fine.” You smiled at her and her gaze softened a bit before she walked out of the courtyard, and the group started to split up to attend to the rubble around the temple. You remained and watched the final decision being made. Aang looked up at Zuko and outstretched his hand, smiling, “welcome to the good guys.” Zuko shook his hand and smiled at the avatar, knowing that this is where he belonged. 

When Aang had sauntered off, just you and Zuko remained in the courtyard. You smiled up at him, “Hey look! I told you I could get them on your side!,” you started walking, Zuko meeting your stride. “I don’t know, I think Sokka actually changed their minds,” you gasped and looked up at him as he gazed down at you already smirking, “Hey! You liar! Take it back,” you elbowed him in the side as you kept walking, egging him on as you went. You two began to laugh together as you walked next to each other, confident you guys could all take on the next challenge, whatever it will be. 

Hopefully nothing too difficult. ...Your arm still hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not check this, but I felt like I needed to post it immediately so mind the issues. I'll get back to it!


	8. The Nap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group recoups after the fight, and you a Zuko have a weird moment, or two...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [newly edited]

You spent the rest of your night healing any scrapes or bruises that the team received during the sudden battle. Katara got hit by some debris during an explosion, scratches marking her forearms where she blocked the rocks, and Aang had been roughed up when he took a dive trying to escape an explosion.You healed up Katara quickly, but with Aang, you had to heal his back and arms, which is always awkward to be healing your half naked friend. You often have to remind yourself that it’s just you making it awkward. 

Speaking of awkward, you were currently fixing up your local fire bender, and you were sure you manifested the word 'anxious' into the room. Zuko laid in front of you, top off, splayed out on his stomach so you could work on the cuts and bruises on his back. You knew you had similar ones yourself, I guess throwing yourself onto solid rock does come with some consequences. Who’da thought? You took a deep breath to focus on your healing while you moved your hands across his back in a slow fashion, hoping that it would all heal well. 

Meanwhile, Zuko just tried to keep his blush from reaching his ears as you healed. Jeez, he doesn’t know what’s up with him, I mean you’re basically just giving him a massage right? Oh shit, maybe don’t think of this as a massage? A friendly massage? Ugh, Zuko sighed softly and tried to calm his nerves, he figured you could feel how tense he was at the moment, though he hoped you weren’t paying such close attention to him at all.

You were though. Actually you were paying very close attention. You were practically done with all the healing on his back, but the guy was still so tense in his back. You weren’t sure if it was just in your head, maybe he was built like that? Or maybe the royal life kept him wound up... well never the less you decided that you might as well try and help. “Hey, lemme know if this hurts,” you continued to softly graze his back with your hands until you found one of the tender muscles in his back, “like at all, I don’t wanna unheal what I’ve already healed.” 

“What are you going to dooo-” his words drifted into a loud groan as you pressed down on the muscle with a portion of your weight. His voice echoed around your room, as if he just yelled down into the canyon, making the sound last longer and quite louder. You both sat still for a moment, not even breathing.

You flung your hands off the firebender, face glowing red, “I’m so sorry, did that really hurt? Shit, I didn’t mean to get you so hard!” you heard the boy gasp a little at the words, making you realize what you implied. “NO, uh no no I meant pressing so hard against youuuno, no not that either, I swear-” 

Zuko raised his hand in a dismissive way as he rose to sit, “Please just… stop, you’re fine.” His back was facing toward you so you missed any expression on his face, which was fortunate for him. His whole face was red, and he knew he couldn’t repress this one. What the FUCK was that? Did he… moan? I mean shit, what just happened? He stood and grabbed his shirt, just draping it on. “Thank you, I’ll be going,” Zuko said quickly before practically running out of your room.

You remained sitting on the ground, your hands still raised in the air, face still very red. You sighed and lowered your hands, glad you were out of the situation but not really glad it happened. You leaned to fall onto your back, all this fighting and healing really took all the energy out of you. When you landed on your back you grimaced an gasped, shooting back up you remembered you needed some TLC yourself. Standing, you closed the curtain to your room that Zuko had just ran past, and turned to take your heavy top off. In just your undershirt, which you could honestly count as a bra, just covering your chest and a little bit of your upper stomach, you suddenly felt a lot cooler and you sighed in relief. You looked around, however and removed your undershirt, leaving your top half naked in order to heal the busing on your back properly. You know it's a little risky, anyone could walk in, but the group has made a habit of announcing themselves before they came in. Just in case however, you faced away from your door way, instead you stared at a wall on the other side of the room. You grabbed the healing water that you used on Zuko and absorbed it into the ground, grabbing new water for yourself. Your mind wandered as you sat down and you ended up remembering the sound he made again, you thought about the time you spent at the lake after Ba Sing Se. Drowning sounds quite doable right now… yeah sounds good. 

You sighed, deciding that you’d live another day and sat down to start working on your back as best you could. Apparently having a full teenage boy body slam you may leave some marks. You couldn’t reach to lay your hands flat against your back, so you just applied pressure where you could around the edges. You washed your healing waters over your naked back, knowing that you’d probably just heal it until you could sleep comfortably, that’s how tired you were. Ugh maybe you could just ask Katara to heal it up. Nah, she’s probably resting herself. You continued to slightly heal yourself when you heard the shuffle of your curtain. 

Katara? “Sorry I just forgot my-” Not Katara. Definitely not Katara. Knowing the fire bender’s rougher voice, you turned to look over your shoulder, but found yourself alone in your room. ...maybe you’re more tired than you thought. Hallucinations are not usually where you go but eh, let's not think about it too hard.

What you didn’t know was that ‘that fire bender’ was flattening himself against the outside of your room, out of your sight. Waiting around for you to see he walked in on you half naked would not have painted a good picture of himself in your head. He can't lose your opinion in all of this too! He breathed quickly but quietly, and decided to take off back into the courtyard and into his own room at a pace that wasn’t quite walking, but closer to running. Passing by Toph and Katara who were packing up some supplies, he didn’t acknowledge them fully, knowing his face was burning and he wasn’t ready to ruin his already bad reputation by making a fool of himself.

“Where’s the fire buddy? Toph yelled out to him, laughing, but he just mumbled a quick ‘goodnight’ back. “Huh…. that guy is pre-tty weird, huh?” Toph watched as Zuko ran away, and shrugged at Katara who was also watching him go. Katara was confused, but followed his path back to your room, kinda piecing a few things together, “yeah… pretty weird.” She passed some supplies over to Toph before striding in your room's direction, "I'll be right back, gotta check something." Toph just hummed in acknowledgement and went pack to packing. Reaching your curtain, Katara made herself known, "Hey (Y/n), are you in there?" "Yeah! Come in, but forewarning, I'm kinda naked." Katara opened the curtain and looked toward your figure that was straining to heal itself. "Oh, jeez (Y/n) I'll help," Katara strode toward you, sitting behind your back, "you should've asked me earlier." "Yeah, I know," you sighed, "I just wanted to get it over with." You sighed as Katara took over, smoothing healing water over your back. After a couple seconds of silence, the southern water tribe girl spoke up, "So, was Zuko in here just now?" You gazed at her over your shoulder with a 'what the fuck' expression residing on your face, "well I sure hope not, I don't know if you haven't noticed but I'm not exactly decent." Katara laughed a little at your sarcasm, but stopped as you continued, "but it's funny you mentioned it because I thought I heard him say something behind me, but I think I'm just so fucking exhausted." Now Katara is a smart girl, she knows when things add up and when they don't. And she definitely knows when a boy looks like he's done something wrong. Katara contemplated telling you that Zuko definitely was here and that he for sure saw your naked back, but while she was finishing up, she could already see you dozing off and startling awake when you fell to far forward. You'd be up all night thinking about this, and you obviously needed rest. She sighed and decided not to tell, drying off your now healed back, "You're good to go!" "Thank you mother." You smiled at her and went to put your shirt on, waving as she headed out the door.

With yourself all healed up, you decided it was time for you to actually get some rest. Cuddling up with your softest blanket, you slowly recounted the day that you had. You were happy that you were able to help Zuko, and that your friends were being more accepting, without splitting them all up. The good thoughts floated through your head, and you smiled slightly as you closed your eyes and let sleep take you away…

Zuko sat in his room and staring at the wall. "I am," mumbling to himself, "the stupidest man alive." He stared on, your naked back flashing through his mind. He groaned, trying to rid the image from his mind. I mean it's not even that big of a deal! It's just your back, it's not like he saw your chest or anything! Zuko hunched over and groaned again, his mind now filled with new ideas. 'STOP' he thought 'You aren't a fucking pervert you stupid idiot, jeez.' "I can't believe I did that still," he said aloud, calming down from his panic. "Believe you did what." Zuko screamed and jumped up facing Katara who leaned against his door, peering down at him. "N-Nothing, I was just," Zuko really wished his uncle was here to cover his stupid ass, "dreaming?" Oh my fucking- "...uh huh?" Katara looked at him confused, but didn't question the guy, relief flooding over Zuko. "Well, did that dream involve peeping on a lovely little water bender that wouldn't hurt a fly?" Okay relief is now out the window. "I didn't mean to, I swear, I ran out of the place fast fornoparticularreason, and forgot my shirt's tie, and I thought 'well I just left, I'll just grab it and leave quickly' but when I opened the curtain I swear I didn't see anything, I swear, well just her back but I mean-" "Calm down Zuko," Katara was shocked at the amount of words that just came out of the ex-prince's mouth. For her it's usually just a small sentence and to the point, so obviously this must be something out of his norm. "I believe you... but you better watch yourself," she watched him take a deep breath and sigh, "I don't want anything happening to (Y/n)." Zuko looked up at her from his sitting position, "of course not," he agreed, now back to serious, short terms, Zuko. Katara nodded at him and ducked back under the curtain, leaving Zuko and facing her own thoughts. She doesn't know yet, but there is obviously something happening between you two... and she's not sure if she's right, but... ugh there is too much to do rather than think about the furture relationships in the world. She walked back and into her room, ridding herself of the thoughts and instead got ready to sleep.

\---

You really tried, you did. You wanted a decent amount of sleep, but it felt like it had only been a few minutes before you were being shaken awake. “Wha.. huh?” you looked bleary at the figure waking you up, and once your vision cleared you saw your group’s designated mom. “Hey, wake up (Y/n), We have to head out.” You took Katara’s hand to help get you up and balance yourself. “What? Where are we going?” You were tired and confused, you guys just got here? You can’t leave such a beautiful temple so soon! “We can’t risk anyone finding us again, like Sparkle Boomy Man did,” she patted you on the back as you hobbled forward, blanket still wrapped around your shoulders and eyes still blinking, “So we are heading in the direction of the fire nation to prepare for Aang’s fight.” “Oooh, okay.” You smiled, closed eyes at her, not mentioning that you didn’t catch any of that in your sleepy haze. Walking out the courtyard, you leaned your head onto Katara’s shoulder as you watched Toph blast some non-fragile supplies into the air for Aang to catch and tie to Appa. You looked around and spotted your two favorite guys. Zuko was helping Sokka pack up some of the food, Sokka obviously telling him a story and him listening, kind of intrigued. You smiled at the sight of the fire bender fitting in with the others. Zuko caught your sleepy smile and smiled back a little, face heating remembering his incident last night. 

“Alright, let’s get going folks!” Sokka waved his arm to motion for us to get onto the flying bison, and you lifted your head and gazed up at the massive beast. You sighed, but suddenly the earth rumbled beneath you, and in your haze you panicked thinking that Combustion Man survived somehow. You realized though that you were being slowly raised up and onto the bison, you stepped onto his saddle and off the risen earth, and you looked around for your earthbender friend. 

She sat already latched to the side of the saddle, prepared for the launch, so you sat next to her and hugged her, “Thank you, you have saved my life.” “Stop being so weird about it, doc.” Toph tried to push you off which was fairly easy considering your state. You leaned away from her and just plopped yourself down, and leaned your back against the wall of the saddle. The voices of your friends faded into a jumbled mess, and you felt yourself dozing off, wrapping yourself tighter with your blanket. The last thing you remember was the feeling of Appa taking off, and you were out.

Sokka poked your cheek with his finger, your sleeping body didn’t even flinch in response. “Should we be concerned about her,” Sokka kept poking at you cheek, still receiving no response, “it’s like she’s dead.” Katara looked over at her brother and smacked his arm down receiving a small ‘hey! ow!’, “Stop that, she’s probably exhausted,” Katara sat down onto the saddle, looking over at you, “healing takes a lot of energy from us and she did way more than she should’ve the other day. 

At the mention of healing, Zuko looked over at your sleeping form, remembering what you did for him, even with how tired you already were, and smiled softly in your direction. Aang spoke up, “Yeah, don’t even think about waking her up guys,” he glanced back at the crew from his place at the head of his bison, “she needs to sleep and it’s better to do it while we are flying than time we could be training.” Just as the avatar finished his sentence, the gust shifted and Appa corrected himself, successfully shifting you to lean directly onto Zuko. Zuko raised his hands as if to say ‘I didn’t do that’ but everyone saw what had happened, and looked at your form, still deeply asleep, and then back up at Zuko. He was looking down at you, hands still raised but his face felt a little hot. Of course this would happen to the poor boy. He almost went to shift you up, but when he started pushing you up, you groaned and squirmed, making him stop immediately. 

“Hey you heard the boss, no wakey,” Sokka smirked at the guy, laughing at the situation he was in, Katara even smiled a little bit finding it funny. Zuko glared up at them and then gazed back down at you, who had settled down again and sighed, now knowing he was stuck. And not that he’d ever admit it, but he liked the feeling of your warmth. Just this touch was comforting, he was surprised at the way you made him feel safe without even doing anything. BUT AHem anyway! Zuko, defeated, let you rest on his lap, for a second he ran his hands over your head a couple times and then rested it on your shoulder, and turned his head to look ahead and watch where they were going, hopefully he’d be able to distract himself through the flight. 

\---

Your eyes cracked open as you heard your friends shift and talk to each other. Looking around you realized you’d landed to camp and let Appa rest for the day. You groaned and rubbed your face into your pillow, trying to wipe the sleep out of your face figuring that you might as well stop free loading. Half way through shifting your face into your pillow, you realized that it wasn’t quite a pillow, and more of a thigh shape. You stopped and shifted your view up, locking eyes with golden ones. “Uh, hey,” you felt stupid. “....Hey.” Zuko looked down at you softly but with some pink on his cheeks, while yours grew redder and redder. “Well, uh, I’ll just,” you shimmied yourself off the boy, and jumped up, sudden embarrassed energy filled your body “gooo-” Your ankle got wrapped up in your blanket that you so lovingly wrapped around yourself before you fell asleep. The one thing that comforted you the most, betrayed you the hardest. You fell off the side of the saddle, sliding down Appa's tail, rolling hotdog into the campsite, where your friends just stared at you. Zuko peeked over the saddle, “You good?” You just put your arm up in a thumbs up, and let it fall down next to you again. Might as well happen to you right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skipped a lot of stuff but they don't have to really be chronological with the actual show so I'm hoping it makes sense in the future, but we'll see :)


	9. The Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's lost his touch, so you and the avatar brainstorm how to help the guy.

“Why can’t I get this!?”

It’s been a day since the team started heading to the fire nation, leaving the beautiful, elegant, calm nature of the western air temple that you totally did not miss at all. In the past day however, everyone agreed that training was our next obstacle, obviously Aang needed to begin his fire bending lessons. But there was one itty bitty problem with his teacher at the moment. 

“I don’t know, that seemed like firebending to me, sifu hotman.” Aang sat perched on a rock that sat at the outside of your guys’ camp, where him and sifu hotman were currently training. If you could call Zuko having a life crisis ‘training’. “Don’t patronize me,” Zuko mumbled and slouched out of his stance after blowing another miniscule fireball, “I have no idea what’s wrong with me, it’s like I just… lost it.”

“Lost what?” The boys’ shifted to look toward your voice and watched as you stepped through some of the trees that surrounded the forest with a basket in tow. Zuko straightened his posture and snapped his hands behind his back, “nothing! No worries, didn’t lose anything!” You looked at him questioningly as you walked near the boys, shifting your eyes to Aang who just shrugged, confused as you were. You squinted and then your eyes widened, “oh did I walk in on some intimate boy talk?” Zuko’s posture slouched and looked at you in disbelief, not sure if it’s because of your assumption or how wrong you were, while Aang just started laughing.

“Hey no, I’m sorry I’m interrupting, but wow y’all bonded pretty fast, like, what? It’s been a day?” You looked between them smiling, “It’s good to know you two get along, but I’ll leave and let you get back to talking about losing your,” you smiled sheepishly at them, “....stuff.” You turned to leave, Aang’s laughter filled the field as Zuko watch you start to walk away. Breaking from his trance, he slapped Aang on the arm receiving an ‘ow!’ and then yelled your name. You turned to look back at them, “I lost my FIRE BENDING.” You also thought you heard a soft, ‘and he’s like fucking twelve or something’. You looked at him for a few seconds, and blinked slowly, “your…. fire bending?” The now fireless fire bender looked at the ground but nodded, it was more embarrassing coming from you than his own mouth. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see you now in front of him again.

“You didn’t lose anything but your spark,” you smiled up at him, his face heating at the close nature and nice words, “come on, let’s see some fire.” You stepped around him and stood in front of the rock Aang presided on. Zuko turned to look at you two, seeing Aang jokingly tap on your head with his shoe while you pretended to be mad and yank his legs. The fire bender took a deep breath and focused his thoughts solely on fire, and creating fire, and a campfire, any and every fire. He assumed his stance and compressed himself in, lunging forward he swung his arm out and threw a fist to the air and…. poof. Zuko sighed and looked over at you, and he didn’t know what was worse, not knowing what you were thinking of him or your sad pity smile. 

“Hey, you know it’s not that bad,” you tried to cheer him up, “... I mean you still made something right? And that’s…. Something?” “Uh thanks,” Zuko sighed, “I guess.” You frowned a little, it’s kinda sad seeing him like this, and then sat and uncovered your basket. “Here, why don’t you guys take a break,” you started taking some fruits out of the basket while you reasoned, “maybe you need to cool off before, you know, you heat up.” Aang laughed a little at you but hovered off the rock and grabbed a fruit, sitting next to you. Zuko sighed but did the same and sat across from you. 

“There’s got to be a reason why… I’ve never heard of people losing their bending,” you looked up at the sky while you chewed your food, Zuko not so subtly looking at you. You suddenly locked eyes with him, “hey! Did you run into that scary acrobat girl recently? Katara said that she took her water bending away for a bit!” Zuko looked confused at the two of you, “scary acrobat gir- you mean Ty Lee? No, and even if I did, she just blocks your chi temporarily, not permanently.” “Oh yeah, those jabs really hurt,” Aang added and shuddered a little at a memory, but you go back into thought. 

Suddenly you jump up, “wait! Jabs? Zuko what if I blocked your chi the other night!” Zuko’s face lights up at the mention of the healing session, but Aang chimes in before the fire bender can deny it, looking between the two of you questioningly, “wait were you jabbing Zuko the other night?” “No, but while I was healing him I tried to help relax his muscles and he-” “NO!” You and Aang just stare at Zuko, who cleared his throat, “I mean, no, you couldn’t have because chi blocking is temporary, remember?” Zuko was sweating and smiling just a little, trying to drop the subject. You sighed, “you’re right, I don’t know what it could be either.” 

“...maybe it’s because you aren’t angry anymore?” You and Zuko looked at Aang, as if to ask him to continue. “Well think about it,” Aang shrugged and closed his eyes, “you aren’t confused and conflicted anymore, and you feel like you’re on the right side, which you are. So those pent up feelings you had about your destiny are gone.” You laughed a little, “there’s no way he can’t fire bend just because he doesn’t have a stick up his ass anymore,” you looked over to Zuko who looked like he was actually considering the thought, “right?” Zuko spoke up, “Well I was taught to firebend by fueling my emotions, so he might be right.” You gaped at him, then looking to Aang who was a little stunned he may be right. You sat in silence for a moment and then rose up. “Well there is only one way to find out!”

“What? What do you mean,” Zuko looked up at you, who looked rather confident. 

“Get mad at me.” The two boys looked confused, “What how?” You slouched a little, “i don’t know, uh, what’s a pet peeve of yours?” Zuko seemed to actually consider for a moment and then shrugged in indifference. You sighed, “what makes you mad prince-y?” “You calling me prince-y…” Zuko deadpanned up to you, which you gladly reciprocated. “Yeah sifu hotman doesn’t like nicknames,” Aang started but received a light punch to the arm. 

“I guess what makes me mad is,” Zuko paused and thought while you and Aang waited in anticipation, “my dad.” You and Aang deflated as the fire bender continued, “or my sister. Or thinking about my past actions.” You sighed, “so I’m hearing you hate your family and…. yourself.” The man in question sat and thought for a moment, and then nodded, “About right.”

You got up silently and sat in front of him, confusing the boy. You leaned forward to embrace the boy, who tensed up but never the less leaned into your arms, “that’s the saddest thing you could have every fucking said dude.” “...sorry?” You closed your eyes, “Stop, you’re making it… sadder.” You let go of him and sat back in your spot as if that didn’t happen, but Zuko was still clearly affected by your close proximity. This did not go unnoticed by the avatar himself, but was not questioned, at least out loud. 

The three of you continued to think of how to go about this again, when you got another glorious idea, “...your past!” you shouted. “Yeah thanks, you don’t have to remind me,” Zuko dug his finger into the dirt. “No, no you can learn from the first fire benders! Like Toph learned how to earth bend-” “I can’t” Zuko cut you off, “the first fire benders were the dragons.” You and Aang looked at each other confused, you started again, “exactly, we need to find a dragon!” Zuko shook his head, “there are none, they’re all gone.” You looked confused but Aang argued, “but Roku had a dragon, they were still around-” “Well not anymore,” Zuko looked off into the ground. You were still so confused, you remembered that the dragons were still around when you were younger, but younger you was a long time ago. Plus, Zuko did not want to talk about them, and who were you to make him do so. 

“Is there anybody that could teach you two?” you questioned, and Zuko perked up a little. “Actually there were the Ancient Sun Warriors who were the first fire benders.” “That’s great! Where are the-” “They’re all dead.” You practically got whiplash from that turn around, “but the ruins of their temple is actually nearby.” Aang straightened his posture, “maybe poking around in there will help you get back your mojo, sifu hotman!” Zuko agreed, “yeah, I think that’s our best bet,” staring at Aang, he grimaced at the boy, “and please, PLEASE stop calling me that.” 

You smiled at the interaction, catching Zuko’s eye, “I’m excited, I hope it all works out!” Zuko smiled at you too, you locked eyes with him again, “I think you’re going to be fine, tip top!” You got up and waved at the two as you headed out with the basket to return back to camp. Zuko watched you every movement, entranced again by your smile, and only snapped out of it at Aang’s voice. 

“Sooo, you either have never experienced a nice person before,” the avatar started, “or you got a crush.” Zuko snapped his head toward the boy, “NO, no I don’t.” Aang smiled at him, “ooo that was a fast denial,” he laughed a little, “that’s pretty sketchy, sifu hotman.” “I am not doing this right now,” Zuko began to pack up his training stuff quickly, walking toward where you disappeared through the meadow. “YOU CAN’T RUN AWAY FROM YOUR FEELINGS!” Aang grabbed his stuff and went to catch up with his teacher.  
Zuko was already in his own head though, thinking about the other boy’s words. A crush? Really? You were just one of his only friends that was actually nice to him. Of course it’s not a crush. Plus, what does the kid take him for, a twelve year old? Zuko continued to walk forward, not really paying attention to his path. Just because he thought you were nice and pretty and comforting…. doesn’t mean he has to have a crush on you! Besides, there is a war going on, he's got bigger problems going on than a girl! Hahah! ...

Holy shit, he has a crush on you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter one, but I didn't want to cram the next part to much.
> 
> Also, may need to be edited!


	10. The River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Zuko and Aang are rediscovering fire bending, you are concerned for the guy... and for your future with your friends.

“You guys heading out so early?” 

You looked up at the two boys from your position in the river that ran alongside your temporary camp. You woke up rather early to try and get cleaned up without the boys around but the world never really likes to follow your plans huh. At least you’re competent enough to have clothes on. You shifted slightly in the water, bending yourself against the small current that the water gave off, but to everyone else, you looked like you were just lounging.

Aang and Zuko looked down at you from the edge of the water, staying dry for their journey to the ruins. “Yeah, I know we won’t be here long, so we want to find what we can while we are there,” Aang started and crouched down as you swam up to the edge of the water to hear them better, “then we can practice it more on the way.” 

“That’s pretty smart of you,” you nodded at the boy, “glad we are actually thinking ahead for once.” You laughed a little, and Aang huffed, “I’d like to think we are always prepared in spirit.” You two laughed harder at the lie when you heard Sokka and Katara talking from the camp. “I guess everyone is getting up huh,” you looked around the boys and over to the camp, to see the two water tribe kids starting breakfast, “my cue to get out.” You smiled and then pulled yourself out of the water and onto dry land, the boys giving you a hand to get to your feet, to stand in front of them. 

“Thanks you guys,” you smile with closed eyes at the boys, Aang smiled back, Zuko looked down at the ground. When you looked up and saw the fire bender’s expression, you slapped a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, you guys are gonna find something, don’t worry!” He shot his head up to look you in the eye, “oh I wasn’t- I know-,” he stuttered and shifted his gaze around before he sighed, “thank you, (Y/N).” You smiled in a worried way at the fire bender but turned and put a hand on Aang’s shoulder as well, “good luck, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

You stood there for a moment and then shook your head, “actually maybe not, I’m pretty stupid.” 

\---

You waved to the boys as they headed out of the trees and into the direction of the Sun Warrior ruins. Zuko still seemed to be in a trance, lost in thought, even while everyone was eating, but as they walked you watched Aang say something and look back at you smiling before the fire bender’s fist met his shoulder. You were a little worried about Zuko but if anyone can make him feel better, it’s probably Aang, so maybe this trip will be good. You stared out at them for a moment and then smiled, you know it will all be ok. You shivered as a gust of wind blew over you, your still damp undershirt and shorts making cold chills run over your body. You turned and walked back to camp, running into Katara.

“Where ya heading?” you asked, she appeared to be a woman on a mission, but still stopped to talk to you. “Toph isn’t up yet,” she sighed but continued, “I need to get her up so we can all train today.” You thought for a moment and then an idea struck you, “hey! Did you notice how Zuko was today?”  
She looked at you straight-faced, “I don’t like to notice him at all.”  
“Oh yeah, I forgot you’re not a fan…” you looked sheepishly at her, “but he seemed really out of it, but maybe he just isn’t a morning person, like Toph!” Katara groaned, “I hope not, I don’t need another stubborn kid throwing rocks at me when I try to wake them up, especially if those rocks would be fire.”  
You laughed a little at her misfortune with Toph, but shivered again as more wind blew over your body. A storm must be heading this way, you thought to yourself. Katara’s laugh brought you out of your thoughts and you looked at her, “What?”“I know we don’t know the guy that well but,” she covered her mouth and laughed a little more, “but I think Zuko does just fine in the mornings.” You looked puzzled over at her, “what? Oh come on don’t make me think harder about this,” you sighed.  
“It may not have been the morning, but it was definitely something this morning that got to him, or maybe someone.” You looked at her in silence for a moment, “did you threaten him again?”  
Katara sighed, “why don’t you change your lack of clothes and think about it a little more,” she started walking toward the rock tent that housed the earth bender, “and don’t forget about training.”  
“Train-? Wait what? Why am I training too?” You looked confused out at her as she continued to walk. “You might not like it, but you need to learn to fight!” She yelled across the way before going into the tent. You looked stunned in the direction she headed, and then swallowed. 

You can’t fight, you’ve never been able to. It always felt like it was going against everything you were ever taught when you learned to heal. Your mom only taught you to defend yourself against the fire nation, no attacking, just defend and run was the plan you always were told. You fell into your thoughts if you can’t fight, how are you supposed to help defeat the Firelord? What help are you in a serious situation if you can’t even hurt people that have hurt you themselves? Yeah, you can heal, but that doesn’t help in the middle of a fight. Another breeze hit you, snapping yourself out of your weary mind. “Ugh, I need to change.”

Heading to your tent, you picked up the shirt that you discarded before you headed to the river this morning. You looked down at yourself, and you pretended to feel faint by putting your hand on your forehead, “Oh so scandalous,” before laughing to yourself. You giggled as you switched out the underclothes you use to swim in for your dry usual ones. Katara’s voice drifted through your head as you changed, “...or someone.” “... lack of clothes…”

“Someone? Who would’ve bothered him? He didn’t see anyone until after him and Aang talked to… me… in the river.” You stared at the tent wall, oh shit what did I do, I didn’t even say anything weird! You thought back to his avoidant eyes and looked down at yourself, now in the dry clothes that consisted of only the basics to cover yourself, the weather was pretty warm and your water tribe clothes were way too heavy. “...There’s no way,” you squinted as you thought, “I didn’t show more skin than I normally do…” You sat in silence for a minute before shooting up.

“Nah, Katara must’ve said something weird to him.” You nodded in agreement with yourself before you headed out, leaving your doubts in the tent where they belonged. 

\---

Your legs carried you as fast as they could, as you dodged through the trees. You stopped and hid behind a tree, panting, and trying to catch your breath. Leaning against the tree, you tried to listen in to the forest for any other noises than your breathing. Not hearing anything, you looked around at your surroundings, seeing a light through the trees. You remembered that it was the opening to the field that Aang and Zuko were ‘training’ in yesterday. 

The sound of a stick breaking shot you out of your trance, turning to find the noise, you just saw a figure sprinting towards you. “HOLY SHIT,” you yelled as you turned and sprinted toward the field’s opening, slightly falling forward but righting yourself as you heard the other footsteps trying to keep up. 

When you broke out into the open field, you shot water forward, creating an ice path for you to slide on and glanced behind yourself to see the figure breaking through the opening as well. Katara ran forward and toward you, water kept up her arms like fat tentacles. “Oh fuck,” you mumbled as you watched the water bender help herself to the ice path you made and star gaining on you. Suddenly you felt airborne, and your body hit the ground at an alarming speed, making you roll a couple of feet forward. You groaned on the ground and held your arm.

“You good?” hearing Toph’s voice from above you, you pieced what happened together as the sun was blocked from your eyes. Toph hovered over you, a little concern written on her face, or at least as much concern as Toph would show. Katara came into your view and helped you sit up. “You have to fight back (Y/N),” Katara started, “or you’re probably going to die.” “Wow hit a girl while she’s down why don’t ya,” you stuck your tongue out at her, “and I’m trying but the fact that it’s you guys makes it even worse. Like what if I actually hurt you?” 

Toph scoffed and crossed her arms, “as if I’d let you get the chance,” and she stood up fully, “and not to make it obvious but I took you down just now and I don’t see any grudge forming from you. It’s not like we are going to kill each other.” You sighed, “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Defeated, you got up to your feet, “one more time?” Katara asked. You nodded and stepped away from them, and then prepared for a fight. 

‘You gotta do this, come on, you thought to yourself, ‘everyone is gonna be fine.’  
You took a deep breath and focused, watching the two girls get ready to launch attacks at you. 

“Okay.”

The girl sprinted forward, the rocks beneath your feet fell, Toph trying to get you off balance. You jumped up and bended your water into another ice path for you to get some space. Katara stopped your path preemptively, making you jump forward and over the two girls. Landing behind them, you froze their feet to the ground. Toph shook the earth breaking the ice and launching a rock at you from behind herself. Katara unfroze herself very quickly using the water to launch at you alongside the rock, forming an ice shard before it was going to hit you. You bended yourself up and took the ice that Katara had launched at you and quickly bended it back into the water using it to slice the rock into fourths. There was a cloud of debris formed from the quick bending, and you saw this as your chance.

Taking strategy from Katara, you formed small shards of ice but kept them bended in your hands. Just as the debris was starting to clear and you could see their shadows, you shot yourself out of the water holding you up, flying at a good speed through the dust. You used the hidden ice in your hands to form around their wrists, constructing their arms for less accurate bending. You prepared for the hit with a wall of water, knowing it would at least knock the air out of them. But as you were about to land out of your jump, you second guess yourself. 

‘What if it actually hurts them, what if they try to avoid it and pop their shoulders out of place because of the ice-binding, what if they go into shock?’ 

On the outside you know that it wouldn’t happen, you knew you weren’t going to hit that hard, but you panicked. You missed your momentum and fell straight into the ground in between the two girls, the speed and force of the water fell, drenching the three of you, but practically with no force. However, you hit the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of yourself, much like you planned to do with the other. Lying on the ground you huffed as you took deep breaths to get the air back in your body. The girl’s ice binding’s dropped when you fell, probably Katara’s doing and they came to check on you.

“...uh, good attempt,” Katara shrugged at you, looking sadly down at your drenched and heavy breathing form. “No that was straight-up awful,” bluntly, Toph crossed her arms, but got smacked by Katara, “Ow! … I mean it was greeaat.” Smiling at you with two thumbs up, Toph tried to mend that sentence. Sighing you shifted yourself up, feeling the side of your body that hit the ground flare up in pain. “Yeah, don’t patronize me,” you waved them off. 

“I mean what happened?” Katara grabbed your arm to help you up while she asked, “you were about to land it!” You winced as you were pulled up, “I don’t know, I just… can’t,” you sighed and looked down. 

“Look I understand that I’m not doing much by not fighting, but I just don’t think I can. You guys were born into this war, you had to grow up defending yourself, I never had to, I was lucky,” you looked up at them exasperated.  
“Hey but what about the Sparky Boom man guy?” Toph questioned, “you helped me nail him with rocks and ice?” You looked at her and remembered the incident, “oh my god I did, didn’t I,” You looked down at your hands, “I guess I just did what Sokka told me to do. It was so fast and Katara and Aang were in danger, Zuko had to be saved, I guess I just… did it.” Remembering that it didn’t go so well you sighed, “Ugh it’s not like it made a difference anyway, the attack didn’t work, Sokka had to help.” 

“Yeah but you still did it, right?” Katara grabbed your good shoulder, “You fight when you feel like you need to, it was stupid of me to think that I could teach you stuff when you never really wanted it.” She smiled at you embarrassed and you hugged her with your good side. “It’s okay, I still love you.” Toph pretended to vomit, but started to back up when she felt you head her way, “Toph! Come here! I love you too!!”

“STOP STOP STOP.”

\--- 

When you got back to camp, the pain in your side turned into soreness, you and the girls decided another trip to the river would be nice. Back in your underclothes, you found it was a lot easier to heal yourself when you were surrounded by water. Flowing the water in current around yourself, you slowly were spinning in a circle as Katara kept herself in one place and Toph held herself to the side. You had already tended to their bruises from the training, even after they told you that your priorities need to be checked. You sighed in relief, feeling the soreness fade, and only a dull feeling was left behind.

On cue, you heard Appa’s groans and looked up to see your favorite bison landing in the camp. Soon the two boys were back in front of you, deja vu. 

“How’d the fire bending escapade go?” You asked the two of them, Katara and Toph also listening in. Aang looked up at Zuko, who was staring down at you and smiling a little, not knowing if it’s because of the new connection to fire bending or the girl in front of him Aang decided to leave him be. 

“It went great! Watch this!,” Aang created a small flame and had it bounce along with the rhythm of his arm. “That’s amazing!” You watched in wonder and Katara came up next to you, “That’s good progress Aang!” The boy practically melted at the praise of the water bender. While those two were conversing, you looked up at Zuko from your spot in the water. “Well, what’s new with you?” Zuko seemed surprised you asked, “well… I guess I understand fire bending is more than just myself.” He was looking down at his hands, and you supposed you’d ask him what that really meant later. You laughed a little and he locked eyes with you, resting your face on your arm getting more tired as the night was falling.

“You know, I don’t know what others say about you but I think you’re pretty smart,” You smiled at him kindly through your lashes as you grew tired. Zuko’s face grew redder, which thankfully for him, was dulled by the setting sun, “...thank you.” Getting over the compliment he smiled slightly down at you and even crouched in front of you so it was easier to talk. “Well, what did you find at the ruins that gave you this new epiphany in life,” you said jokingly, laughing a little. 

“Actually, the Ancient Sun Warriors weren’t as ‘ancient’ as we though-” “Hey Zuko! Let’s do the dance!” Aang ran over to you two, you perking up at the words, Zuko deflating.  
“No.”  
“Oh come on, Katara wants to see it and it would be stupid to do it alone! Please?”  
“No. I’m going to bed.” 

Zuko rose from his crouch, but you reached out to grab his arm, stopping him from getting very far. Aang stopped when he saw this and gasped, “(Y/N) please tell him to do it!” Zuko looked over at Aang, wide-eyed, “No! I’m not doing the dance, I don’t even remember it!” Aang sighed, “yes you do! We did it twice.”

Zuko was about to fight back again but felt a tug on his captured arm. You looked up at him with an excited grin, “you have to do the dance, please Zuko, holy shIT you have to do the dance.” Zuko struggled as he looked down at you while Aang excitedly stood by watching this unfold. In pure defeat, Zuko sighed, “fine.” 

You and Aang ‘whooped’ and cheered, you throwing your hands in the air, accidentally letting go of the fire bender's arm and falling into the water. Aang went to tell Katara the good news as Zuko watched you emerge, a surprised look on your face of the sudden dunk underwater. He laughed at you a little and you grimaced at him jokingly, and he offered his hand to help you out. Grabbing his hand, you pulled yourself out of the river, revealing your so-called scandalous outfit. Zuko looked away again, a little red on his cheeks, and you laughed a little at his actions until he gasped. 

“What happened to your side?!” He pointed down at the bruise that lined your body, your healing had dulled the pain, but bruises are always hard to visually get rid of. “It looks worse than it feels, I swear,” and you patted it for good measure. “Okay, but what happened while we were gone for you to get that?” You two began to walk back to the camp, behind the others, as you talked. 

“I had a serious run-in with some kind of bear in the forest.” He looked at you with judging eyes and you laughed. “Okay okay, I kinda just fell,” he looked at the bruise and back up at you with a ‘I don’t believe that for a minute’ look, “okay I fell really fast… into the ground... Okay, an alarming speed into a rock. Look it was just training.” He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, and you wonder why he looks so worried about this. “Alright, as long as it doesn’t hurt.” “I swear it doesn’t, see hit me.” You stopped and raised your arm up a little, giving him access to the bruise. He looked you up and down with a dead face, mind you a little blush at your outfit, but still communicating the stupid nature of the discussion. 

“Absolutely not.” He kept walking forward and you gasped. “Hey! You know you wanna!” you started to run after him to catch up. “Okay now, WHY would I ‘wanna’ hit you?” He looked wildly confused at you, and you shrugged, “I dunno it kinda just came out that way.” 

Reaching the camp, you dried off entirely by trying to bend all the water out of your clothes and hair, leaving your outfit slightly damp, but you wrapped a blanket around yourself and headed to the fire. Everyone was already gatherers around, not looking nearly as tired as you felt. Healing is stupid, you think to yourself. 

“Alright, time for a dance!” you walked up behind Zuko and patted his back, startling the poor boy. He sighed and Aang jumped up getting in position quickly while Zuko dragged himself up and next to the boy. He looked out at his new friends, and landed on you, wrapped up in a blanket, only your face could be seen. And your face? He felt his stomach shift at your excited face, at the fact that you were excited about something he was about to do. You smiled, mouthing ‘You can do it!’ at him, and he heard the ‘crush’ conversation with Aang run through his head. 

He tore his eyes away and snapped out of his trance as the dance began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn't applaud this chapter but I wanted to post it anyway because it covers some stuff about the reader. The next chapters are probably going to be more Reader and Zuko oriented, and spoilers, there may be a storm coming, and there may also be only one tent.
> 
> Sorry for the inconsistent posting, I've been pretty busy! And again, any errors point out or feedback is appreciated!


	11. The Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only one bed, but instead make it a tent.

“Alright folks, let’s load it up!” Sokka called out to the crew while they grabbed the rest of their stuff and got on the flying bison. Your couple of days at the camp were over as you had to get to the fire nation and make a plan to take the fire lord down, so far everyone has just been furthering the mastery of their element, and in Sokka’s case his sword. 

Already on Appa’s back, you helped Toph getting on by grabbing her arm and pulling her onto the saddle. “Do we have a plan for where we are going when we arrive in the fire nation?” you asked Sokka while he climbed up Appa’s side. “Not yet, we’ll have to find a place outside of whatever town we hit,” he paused to think, “we can’t exactly be seen anywhere.” He pointed over to Aang who looked confused. Sokka sighed and pointed to his own forehead, making Aang feel around his arrow, and then realizing, “oh right.” 

You giggled, this kid is a new kind of Avatar, that’s for sure. 

“My family has a summer home in the outskirts of one of the towns,” Zuko started as he looked up from the ground and was about to start climbing up, “we could stay there.” You reached your arm down to him, much like you did for Toph and questioned him, “uh not to burst your bubble, but we don’t really want to, I don’t know uh… see your family?” He grabbed your arm and you pulled him up as best you could while he explained. “We won’t see anyone there, our family hasn’t been there since we were happy.” You pulled the guy over the side of the saddle and looked up at him sadly, “man that’s pretty rough.” 

Everyone agreed that we would head toward the nearest town in the fire nation, and then Zuko would be able to get us to the summer home. Aang hopped onto Appa’s head and the six of you were off. 

“Not to bring down anyone’s mood but Sokka, have you gotten any response from the people at the ambush,” you scrunch your body up to make a little more room on the saddle. Sokka sighed, “no, nothing from my dad or anything. I haven’t gotten anything from anyone, not even just from the ambush.” “Not good news,” you rested your head onto your arms, feeling a little defeated that our allies seem to have gone missing.

Small talk filled the air as you all flew, and you felt comfortable with all your friends together, and thinking about how everything will work out, you knew it. 

A small force hit your forehead, reaching up you found it was water. You looked up at the sky, seeing grey clouds overhead. No one noticed it over the jokes and stories. “Uh, guys,” you patted Aang’s shoulder and everyone looked at you as you stood and looked at the heavy clouds ahead. “Oh no, we might have to land,” the young boy got up to take the reins when a huge crash of thunder and lightning hit the ground right around all of you. Startled, Appa groaned and turned suddenly, shifting everyone around. Have you ever heard of not standing on a canoe? Well, you should never stand on a flying bison either. You immediately were thrown off balance as the rain began to fall harshly around you. You fell on your butt, and conveniently into a certain fire bender’s lap. You two didn’t even have time to be embarrassed as Appa started to take a dive down, Zuko instinctively wrapping an arm around your waist and the other around a part of the saddle to keep you two secure. You gripped on to his arm, holding on as Appa started veering to the side, “Aang are you okay??” you yelled up at the boy, almost washed out by the rain. “Yeah! Everyone hold on though, I’m taking us down!” 

You turned a little in Zuko’s arm, securing yourself even more by grabbing the saddle as well, a little difficult as Zuko’s grip didn’t let up while Appa was still at an angle. The rain started coming down even heavier, covering up any sound, all you could feel was the boy holding you. 

Appa started down toward a heavy part of trees, hoping to get some cover from the rain, even if it's just trees. The leaves and branches were a good cover, but the rain still came through them, albeit in a smaller quantity. You all sighed in relief as you were able to calm down. 

“I guess we are here for the night,” Sokka started to get off Appa, “Oh man, I’m soaked.” The whole group deadpanned at the water tribe boy, water dripped down from their heads and onto their already wet clothes. You went to get up off of Zuko, realizing your position, but was hindered by the arm that saved you in the first place. Zuko seemed to be paying attention to the others’ conversation about setting up a camp here and waiting out the storm, not paying very much attention to the girl that was very much in his lap. 

“Hey, uh, you mind letting me up?” Your face was red as you tilted you head back to look up at him, not really being able to look at him any other way. “Wha…” the fire bender looked down at you, your faces about an inch apart as his own face heated up. He sprung his arms out as far as he could and you clambered out of his lap. “Ahem, well thank you for not letting me fall off Appa and to my death,” you thanked him, your face still red as you practically ran off of Appa, using the surrounding water to bend yourself down as quickly as possible. Zuko kept his eyes on you at the same time, his face equally as red. “...no problem,” he mumbled under his breath, but you were already out of range. He sighed and grumbled to himself about how embarrassing he is and he started climbing down the side of the bison. 

With everyone down and off of Appa, you, Katara and Aang bended as much water off of everyone as they could, even Appa got a good drying making the bison rather happy to not be so heavy. 

“Alright, so, Toph could you create a raised platform where we could set up camp away from the water?” Katara asked while she went to unpack just the tents for the night. Toph smiled and cracked her knuckles, preparing herself, then lunging forward and bending a large area of earth around the group a foot up from the ground. She slapped her hands together in a clap, “too easy.” She smiled but it soon turned into a frown as the entire ground got hit by a sheet of water. You and Zuko looked at each other and blinked, then looked at everyone else. The vibration of the bending made all the sitting water on the treetops fall, soaking you all for the second time today. You and your fellow water benders sighed as you started drying everything off once again. 

Sokka was looking over the supplies and then deflated, “Zuko, you didn’t perhaps bring your own tent did you?” Zuko looked over at the guy, “uh, no, I only had a tarp when I stayed in the forest and that uh… stayed in the forest.” Zuko just seemed to remember that he left practically all his stuff in the forest, and turned to you “... I left your blanket too… I’m so sorry.” You looked surprised that he looked so apologetic, “uh don’t worry about it… it’s just a blanket dude.” 

Sokka returned to the problem at hand, “well we don’t have enough tents.” Zuko was confused, “can’t Toph just make me an earth tent like she has been?” Toph butted in at the sound of her name, “sorry princey, my stuff only works in dry weather, you’d probably get sick and it would most definitely leak,” she shuddered, “trust me, I would know. That was an awful week.” 

You looked worriedly at the girl, but then focused on the current issue, “why doesn’t he just share with you?” Sokka shook his head and shrugged, “Sorry, casa de Sokka is full, Aang usually bunks with me in this weather because he can’t sleep outside with Appa.” You turned to think again, “well what about Katara’s tent?” Zuko looked over at you like you just said the stupidest thing he’s ever heard, which was probably true. “Even if that wasn’t the worst idea you’ve ever had, Toph bunks with her for the same reason, so she’s full too,” Sokka looks up at you, “which leave your only option with…” 

You jumped up, smiling, “with me!” You turned to Zuko who gaped at the plan, “Hey we can have a slumber party!” you smiled up at him. Zuko’s face didn’t really change and you deflated a little, looking off to the side, “unless you don’t want to, you know I could always sleep outside, I don’t mind the wate-”

“NO, I mean no, it’s fine, I’ll sleep with you!” 

Toph threw a hand up and smacked her forehead as Sokka covered his mouth to muffle his laugh, and you just looked up at him with a small blush on your face as you covered your own laugh. “I - shit, I didn’t mean that… I will sleep in the tent.” Zuko took another look at you before he just walked away to go get some other stuff from the saddle. You watched him leave, still giggling while Sokka let it all out, clutching his stomach. “Wow, I’ve never seen him so off his game,” he wiped a tear from his eye as everyone split up to set up camp and get some rest after the excitement from today.

\---

Everything was set up and ready, you had all had some of the food you’d been traveling with for dinner, not bothering to set up to cook. Taking turns, you and Zuko got dressed to sleep, setting the tent up for two people to sleep. You could see that Zuko still seemed uncomfortable when he went into the tent to change. You sat outside the flaps, sitting and thinking about this whole ordeal. 

Zuko surprises you every day, not that you didn’t have faith in him, but just because he seems way nicer than you would think that a previous enemy would behave. Like protecting you on the trip here. What was that about? He didn’t even hesitate to grab hold of you, and then he had to go and make it awkward by prolonging the hold. The thing is, and you felt it when you realized you were in his lap, you didn’t mind. You actually liked it. It felt… nice. “Ughhh!” you rubbed your face with your hands. What are you talking about, you barely know the guy! You rested your face on your arms and looked to the side at the ground. 

...Why did it feel so... comforting?

Hearing the rustle of the tent, you snapped out of your thoughts, a blush resting on your face. Zuko’s head poked out of the flap of the tent, “oh, I’m done.” You smiled at him, covering up that you were totally thinking about being in his strong fire bender arms, “alright, you ready for bed right?” 

He sighed, “Yeah I’m pretty exhausted,” you nodded in agreement and climbed into the tent, laying on the side reserved for you. Looking over at him, you realized that he only had a mat to lay on and a pillow for his head, “Hey, do you not have a blanket?” He turned to look at you, “the only one I had was the one you gave me, and I left that in the forest… sorry again.” You waved off the apology. “Well scoot a little closer,” you started shifting your mat closer to his while he just stared, “wha- why??” 

“So we can share mine! It’s pretty big, no problem fitting two people,” you looked at his face, a little embarrassed at the idea of sharing a blanket with you, “oh come on, we’ll have plenty of space, don’t worry, I don’t have cooties.” You laid down on your now closer mat and held the other side of the blanket over to him. “...thank you,” he grabbed it and pulled it over himself. You were right, there was plenty of space between you two and the blanket was just fine. You smiled, “See this isn’t so bad,” he smiled a little back at you. “Yeah, you were right.”

You closed your eyes and smiled a little bigger at the comment, “you know it.” You yawned and covered your mouth, “well it’s time for me to turn in,” you looked over at him. 

“Goodnight Zuko”

“Goodnight (Y/N)”

The two of you fell asleep relatively fast, you almost immediately after bidding goodnight, Zuko may have snuck a glance or two of your sleeping face before he also succumbed to sleep. The two of you rested and hoped for a better day tomorrow.

\---

An explosion shook the courtyard of the temple as Zuko ran forward. Catching glimpse of the assassin he had hired to kill the avatar, he tried to get his attention as the man shot at his friends. “Stop! Please!” He waved his arms around, but he seemed invisible to everyone around him. Combustion man made a hit, Sokka and Toph falling down into the ravine as the ground beneath them collapsed. “NOO,” Zuko watched as they fell into the water below. Another scream caught his attention, Katara held by the throat in the man’s hand, Aang flying toward the man in blind anger at the sight. The assassin shot at the boy and landed directly head-on, the avatar’s body following the others down the ravine, Katara’s limp body following shortly behind.

Zuko began to cry, screaming for the man to stop, and begging for himself to wake up from this nightmare when he heard a familiar voice. “You know, I don’t know what others say about you but I think you’re pretty smart,” Zuko’s head snapped to his right, seeing you perched on the other side of the temple, smiling at him from across the way.

“No…. NO!” he screamed as the man aimed in your direction. You closed your eyes and waved at him, a tear running down your face. “Stop! Run (Y/N), Run!! Please!” He yelled and cried as he reached out to you, but as if you couldn’t hear him, you remained where you were. He heard the force of the shot being taken at you and he screamed, right as it was about to hit you-

Zuko shot up, panting and looking around. He immediately found your face, still sleeping soundly in the same position you were before. He sighed as he tried to catch his breath, rubbing his eyes as he laid back down on the mat and groaned quietly. He listened to the silence for a moment, wondering if he should just stay up for the rest of the night, but decided against it, knowing it was only around midnight. 

He felt a soft weight on his hand that was resting on his chest and looking down he found your own. Surprised he looked over at you and his heart felt like it stopped. You were lying on your stomach, turned a little to face him, your arm reached out to touch his own. What really got him though was your face. You were clearly tired, your eyes half-lidded, but your eyebrows were scrunched up in a way that spelled 'worried', the other half of your face covered by your shoulder where you were reaching out with your arm. 

“...you okay?” you said in such a way that Zuko almost burst into tears at the sincerity of your voice. He grabbed your hand and squeezed it a little, getting back into a comfortable position on his back, still looking over at you, “yeah yeah, don’t worry about me.” 

Your face didn’t waver, “...you sure?” you asked again in the same small voice. He gave you a small smile and nodded, “yeah, I’m fine.” You stared at him for a second, “...okay.” You closed your eyes again and it looked like you instantly fell asleep. Zuko watched you for a moment, never in his life had he felt like this, he felt safe. And cared for. And wanted.

He looked away after a moment, deciding that he didn’t want to be creepy, and went to put your hand over by your now sleeping form. Trying to let go he realized you had intertwined your fingers with him, and you were not letting go. He thought about it for a moment but decided to be selfish. 

He held your hand close to his chest, almost hugging it as a wave of exhaustion swept over him. The warmth that radiated from just your hand soothed him and he fell into another sleep, interlocked with you. He felt safe and warm, and his dreams weren't bad, but they weren't good either, because he dreamt of nothing. Instead, he slept well, for the first time in years.

\---

You woke up alone in your tent, and rose slowly, getting dressed at a leisurely pace, you wanted to go look for your tent buddy. You found him fairly fast, he was looking out at the forest, sitting on the ledge that Toph had created, seemingly lost in thought. You sat down next to him and looked out at the forest too. The two of you sat in silence, giving him an opportunity to talk about it or to just sit in peace. 

“...thank you,” he mumbled a little and rested his chin in his hands, “there isn’t much to say, just bad dreams.” “It’s okay, I know what you mean,” he looked over at you as you smiled sadly into the forest, “you can always come to me, you know? I know we haven’t known each other that long but-” Zuko grabbed your hand to stop you, “thank you.” 

You looked over at him, and just smiled looking back out at the forest. Another silence filled the air, this one comfortable. You two sat and waited for the others to wake up.

“... I walked in on you almost naked.” You snapped your head over to the boy who was now sweating like a cow-pig in the hot season.

“You WHAT?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter the next day? Don't get used to it, I am simply stupid.


	12. The Tiff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rescue is in order, and you're not letting your friend go in alone.

The crew moved on from the forest once the storm had passed, and decided to settle in a place outside of the fire nation. With the plan to stay there for a couple of days, you all set up to be comfortable and relax a little after the excitement that was the last week. However, you happened to be a little too on edge to really relax. 

Who could blame you? You basically got whiplash from trying to comfort your new friend to avoiding him. You thought back at the conversation you had yesterday…

\---

“YOU WHAT?!” 

You gazed over at Zuko with your eyes wide, surprised at the sudden confession. Zuko was looking down at the ground but jumped up and a little away from you, “I’m sorry! I forgot my stuff and it was already so awkward because of the moan-” 

“THE MOAN? WHAT MOAN??” 

“NO NO, I uh… Listen, I’m just trying to apologize!” 

You ran a hand over your face and sighed, “Zuko,” you looked up and into his eyes, and saw him swallow at his name, “what did you even see? Was it like…” you gestured to the top half of your body and then continued, “or…” you pointed at the other half, “or like…” and gestured at your whole body. 

While you did this Zuko just stared and slapped a hand on his blushing face, slightly to cover the redness, but also in exasperation of how you’re handling this. “(Y/n),” he sighed and looked at you, “I only saw your back.” Your eyes blew up and you found yourself facepalming.

“You saw my back? Zuko it’s my BACK, you said you saw me NAKED!” “It was your NAKED BACK.” You looked at him as he got more frustrated at the conversation while remaining completely embarrassed. A silence set in for a second until your laughs broke through. 

Zuko looked at you surprised, but his anger returned to him, “Why are you laughing?! Yell at me, hit me, do something!” You kept laughing, unknowingly getting him more fired up, “What are you doing?!”

Catching you breath, you looked up at him and tried to talk through some more laughs, “It’s fine.” Zuko looked at you surprised, “No it’s not! I told you what happened! Why aren’t you mad??” 

“What’s there to be mad about? You saw my back?” You shrugged up at him, “Zuko, you didn’t even mean to do it, and you didn’t even see anything,” you smiled up at him, “come on you should be happy.” 

You couldn’t understand and you remember your absolute confusion during the end of the conversation, but when you looked up, Zuko remained angry. His eyebrows were knitted together, he was glaring at the ground with his arms crossed, thinking fast and rather angrily. I mean, the way he was thinking definitely seemed angry. 

You looked confused up at him and almost reached out, “Zuko, it really is oka-” “It’s not! It’s not ok, I violated your privacy you should be mad!” He started to walk away, and you almost went to follow, but he waved you off. 

“I can’t be here right now.”

You watched as he walked to camp and began to help pack up the small number of supplies that were unloaded for the night before. You looked at him and squinted your eyes and even looked around to see if anyone saw what you saw. You looked down at your hands and then rested your forehead on your hand and started under your breath, “so, what I’m hearing is… He saw MY bare back… and I don’t think it’s a big deal… so HE is mad at ME because I’m… not… mad at… him…” You stood in that stance for a full minute, just contemplating your life thus far.

You sighed and started walking back to the camp. “What the fuck.”

\---

Yeah, so the trip on the way to this new camp wasn’t exactly chatty. At least with the two of you. You honestly didn’t know what to do, and of course, you wanna try and get him to understand that it doesn’t matter but what are you supposed to do? You looked down at the vegetables that you were washing and sighed. You had decided to just give him some space and hope that he comes and talks to you soon. Maybe. Hopefully.

You get startled out of your thoughts, Sokka coming up beside you and picking some of the clean vegetables out of the water. You smiled at him, but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Frowning you stopped him from leaving by grabbing his arm, “Sokka? What’s up?” 

He jumps a little as if he never noticed you were there at all. He looked down at you, “Oh hey,” you squint at him, and he sighed, “sorry I was just thinking.” 

“You wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t know…”  
You sighed but smiled a little, “come on, we don’t need two grumpy guys in the group.” “Who’s the othe-” You clapped a hand on his shoulder, “SO! What’s going on in Sokka town?”

Looking at you weirdly, he sighs and huffs a laugh at you and your ways but decides to help clean some of the veggies while he was talking, “I was just thinking about the eclipse and everyone in it.” You looked up at him sadly, knowing his concern about the ambush, but he remained looking down. 

“I need to know where they are, I need to help find them.” He stopped scrubbing at the food and looked out ahead of him in thought. You sighed, “I know you feel responsible for the ambush, but don’t let this weigh you down, it’s not your burden to bear.” 

“I’d like to think that too, but I let them stay and I let them get captured while we ran away. I feel a little responsible.” Sokka rested his head on his hand, not doing much cleaning anymore but you never expected him to anyway. “I just need to find them,” he mumbled under his breath. 

You wanted to find them too, some of them were your friends. Sokka and Katara’s father was very kind to you, and even told you some stories of the water tribes that you didn’t know. You miss them, and you know it. You stared at him for a few seconds, the only thing you could do was help. 

You sighed and rested your hand on his head and messed up his hair, “count me in,” you smiled as he swatted your hand off his head, “that is if you come up with a plan.” 

Sokka pretended to be angry at the noogie, but smiled and gave you a side hug, “thank you.” You hugged him back and heard him mumble, “but how are we gonna find them?”

You felt eyes on your back and pulled away from the hug and spun around. Sitting across the way was the angsty fire bender that you had so far been avoiding. You sighed as you watched him look away quickly and at the ground, “we do have an ex-member of the fire nation.” Sokka looked over you and at Zuko, and he brightened up, “yeah! He’d know! Will you go talk to him-” 

“No.”

Sokka was surprised at your response, “What- why?” You looked away from Zuko and sheepishly smiled at Sokka, “He’s not exactly happy at me right now,” you rubbed the back of your neck, “I don’t think he would want to talk to me right now.” As much as you pretended it didn’t bother you, the fact that Zuko was angry at you was kinda eating you up inside. The more you learn about him, the more you see reason in him.

Sokka saw the turmoil in your eyes and decided not to light any flame, “alright, I guess I will ask him.” You looked grateful, “thanks Sokka.” 

“Anytime,” he smiled.

Sokka headed over to the fire bender, who had returned to watching the girl in front of him clean vegetables. Zuko hadn’t even addressed Sokka and honestly, the water tribe boy thought that Zuko hadn’t seen him at all. 

“...uh you’re gonna set her on fire with the way you're glaring at her.” 

If Zuko shot off of the tree he was leaning on, surprised to see the guy next to him, “I wasn’t glaring.” Sokka laughed a little, “are you sure? Your face was all scrunched up.” 

Zuko reached up at his face, “I always look like this.” Sokka looked at him for a second, “I guess you're right.”

Zuko sighed and glanced over to where you were only to see that you were gone, and he went to leave until he was stopped by a hand on his arm. “I have a question for you,” Sokka started, looking at the ground suddenly serious. Zuko paused and turned to face him, “...alright?” 

“If the people in the ambush during the solstice were captured,” Sokka looked up at the fire bender, “where would they take them?” Zuko looked at him for a moment and then sighed, “you don’t want to know.” 

“Please! I need to know what happened to them, it’s my fault this happened,” Sokka pleaded with Zuko, “I need to help.” Zuko sighed, “They would most likely be taken to The Boiling Rock, the most guarded prison in the entire fire nation. No one that has gone in has ever escaped.” Sokka looked surprised at the answer and slightly saddened at the answer, but continued, “do you know how to get there?”

Zuko shook his head, “you’d be asking to get captured, I can’t let you do this.” The fire bender began to walk away, “just forget about it.” Sokka looked out and watched as he walked away, the water tribe boy just sighed, but straightened himself out and set out a plan in his head.

\---

Dinner was being served, you sat down near the fire with your own stew. Zuko looked out at the fire, moving to sit by you like he normally did, but found his spot quickly filled by a certain water tribe boy. He watched as the boy sat down next to you and leaned in to whisper in your ear. Zuko sighed and took a spot across the fire in between Aang and Toph.  
Sokka leaned into your ear, “I have a plan, meet me at Appa after everyone is sleeping.” You looked at him surprised and then looked over at Zuko, who met your eyes for a second but then glanced away again quickly. Turning back to Sokka you questioned, “you really got Zuko in on this,” and was confused when Sokka shook his head. 

“No, he told me to forget about it, but he also gave us a place to look, The Boiling Rock.” 

You gasped, everyone turned to look at you, “uhh sorry! Just burnt my tongue!” you laughed it off and everyone went back to their own meals. You shot your head over to Sokka, “You can NOT go to The Boiling Rock, it’s too risky!” 

“Jeez, you sound just like fire fingers over there.”

“Sokka you don’t understand, that prison is horrible, trust me!”

Sokka sighed and paused before he spoke, “It’s my dad (Y/N), I have too.” 

You looked into his eyes and sighed when you found that his mind already seemed to be made up, and you might as well help him as much as you can. You rested your hand on his arm, “okay,” you smiled when he looked at you surprised, “I’ll help.”

He gave you another small half-hug in a big brother way, quickly as if not to draw attention to your scheming. You two returned to your meals, now just talking about the normal stuff.

Unknown to you, two golden eyes watched as you two were talking, trying to decipher the conversation…

“Jealous?” Zuko shot his head over to the avatar himself, who looked up at him with a knowing look. A silence formed between the two of them…

Aang may have left dinner with a small bruise forming on his arm, but who's to say. 

\---

Night came around and you stuck your head out of your tent, looking around you saw all the tents dark, and decided to move. Tiptoeing through the camp, you made your way over to Appa, trying to wake anyone including the flying bison. Walking by Appa’s head, you spotted Sokka standing by one of his feet, but you saw movement out of the corner of your eye. 

Appa looked at you with sleepy eyes, and you froze, caught in the act. Making quick movements you stuck your hand out and rubbed his face, making him sigh and fall back asleep. You sighed as you watched his head go back down and turned to Sokka with a sheepish smile.  
“Are you sure we shouldn’t bring everyone? This is really risky, Sokka.” You whispered to him as you double-checked your supplies. “We can’t, it would draw too much attention to us to have multiple people, I need to get in and get out,” He rummaged through his own back and you sighed. Climbing up Appa, you were trying to reason with him, “it’s just, that place is very heavily armed, the only way to get to and from the prison is a tram lift.”

“Well you sure know what you're talking about,” you froze when you heard the voice come from above you. Peeking over the edge, Zuko sat there with his arms crossed obviously irritated. You slowly lowered your head and climbed down, when you hit the ground you leaned over to Sokka and whispered, “maybe he didn’t see us.”

“You’re joking,” Zuko replied for Sokka and you deflated. “Well, it was worth a try.”

Zuko looked down at you two, and then specifically Sokka, “You were going to drag her into your horrible plan too?” You glared up at him, “I volunteered to help, I’m not letting him risk getting caught or worse trying to save his father when I could help out. I wasn’t dragged into anything.” Zuko looked surprised at your attitude, not used to you acting so blunt. He shook off the feeling after he saw you two start climbing up on Appa, “what exactly are you going to do to help?”

“I’m going to help him cross the water.” Zuko and Sokka looked at each other in shock, before Zuko questioned, “wait why are you surprised?” Sokka shrugged, “I didn’t know that that’s how we planned on getting in.”

Zuko’s interrogation returned to you, “that’s impossible, it's a boiling lake!” 

“It will work, I know it, plus,” you raised your hands up to him and shook your fingers jokingly, “I am a water bender, if you remember.” Jeez, even when you're trying to ignore him you still end up being friendly. I guess you’re cursed or something.

Zuko sighed and shook his head, “there’s no way you can cross that, even as a water bender.” You grimaced at him, Sokka just along for the show was looking in between you guys.

“It will work.” 

“No, it won’t.”

“It will, I promise,” You went to sit on Appa’s head, the bison for sure awake now that this commotion had started, “can you get off now, we need to leave before the sun rises.” “Why are you sure that it will work?”

Tired of being questioned, and tired of this conversation, you snapped your head toward the fire bender, “Because I’ve done it before! Now, Get. Off. Zuko.” 

Even Sokka was surprised, while you hadn’t yelled, you were definitely angry, the first time in a long time he’d seen you like this. Meanwhile, Zuko was stunned again, and almost looked like a puppy who had just gotten yelled at for chewing a shoe, but he was also confused… you’ve done it before? What, bend water? Or infiltrate a heavily armed and guarded prison?

You looked at him, waiting for the fire bender to get off, but he sat there. He sighed and mumbled, “I’m helping you.” 

You slapped your hand on your face and dragged it down, “really all that for you to just come with us.” He looked away and didn’t say anything, you sighed and dropped the note for the others when they woke up. You patted Appa and walked him away from the group until it was far enough that the others wouldn’t wake up when you take off. You looked up at the sky and then back at the boys, Sokka gave you a thumbs up, and Zuko just nodded. You wound the reins up and flung them forward. 

“Yip Yip.”

\---

“We need to go to the market a couple of towns over and we need to take Appa because the things we need are so big and cool. - (Y/N)”

The three of them hovered over the short letter, all confused. “You know I’d be worried but I think I trust (Y/N) enough to not do something stupid,” Katara read the letter over again, “What do they need that’s so big though?”

Aang rose from his lying position, “yeah, why’d they have to take Appa, don’t I have enough trauma already.” He sighed and laid back down. Katara looked around and found another letter, “Oh it’s from Zuko.”

“Aang, do your fire bending exercises and don’t even try to skip out. I’ll be able to tell you if you did.”

Aang groaned in exasperation and pulled himself off the ground. “Even when he’s not here I can feel his threats.” The girls snickered as they cleaned up and got to training themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to pretend that I didn't forget about Zuko's war balloon, but let's pretend like I planned it that way.
> 
> Also, thank you for 190 Kudos?? Seriously! I love seeing your comments :))


	13. The Bubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Boiling Rock rescue is under weigh, and a friendship rescue may happen as well.

“We’re halfway there boys.”

The three of you rode above the clouds, hoping to stay out of the fire nation's sight, Appa would be a dead give away. Sokka and Zuko sat awkwardly in the back, not really knowing what to say to one another. Or at least you thought they weren’t talking, you couldn’t hear very well from Appa's head as the wind flew by your ears. Thinking about The Boiling Rock you grew worried again. While you knew Zuko understood the severity of the prison, Sokka couldn't possibly know what’s happening. You trust Sokka, he is smart under all that... personality? You sighed, I hope they know what they're doing. 

Outside of your thoughts and your range of hearing, the two boys were, in fact, not talking. Sokka took a glance over at Zuko and found the fire bender staring at you once again. Thinking back to your hesitance to talk to the fire bender, Sokka decided that the ride couldn’t get much more awkward. “You know, I don’t know what she did but knowing her for as long as I have, it couldn’t have been that bad.” Zuko broke his stare at you back and looked at the other boy, “...what are you talking about?”

Sokka shrugged, “I’m just saying that if you forgive her you could stop,” he moved his hands in a shooing motion, “do that creepy staring thing.” 

Zuko blinked, “One, I’m not staring.” Sokka immediately started to disagree but Zuko continued, “TWO, I’m not the one that needs to forgive her.” Sokka looked confused, “...she told me that you were mad at her? What even happened?” 

“I told her… something that she should’ve been mad about, and she didn’t get mad, so I got mad because she should’ve been mad,” Zuko moved his hands along with his words, while Sokka’s face scrunched up even more in confusion as the fire bender continued. 

“So I guess, she needs to forgive me for getting mad at her… for forgiving me.” Zuko made his head fall into his hands, “You get it?” 

Sokka just stared at the boy squinting, “...no.” Zuko sighed and Sokka just rubbed his face, “did you even apologize for getting angry?”

“...no.”

“... alright, you’re not as smart as I thought you were but we can work through this.” Zuko glared at the insult but was very listening carefully. 

“I say this with 99.9% confidence, if you apologize, (Y/N) will most definitely forgive you,” Sokka bluntly stated, and Zuko sighed. “It’s not that easy,” Sokka shook his head and Zuko heard a small ‘it really is’, “she’s been nothing but kind to me since I joined you guys, jeez even before that. I thought I grew away from my anger, but the way she reacted was so confusing to me that it came back full force. That’s not even an excuse for the way I acted, I just feel like I took her kindness and threw it down the drain.” 

“You feel like an asshole,” Zuko sighed and nodded, while Sokka thought for a moment. “Why do you care so much about what (Y/N) thinks? I mean Katara hates you more than (Y/N) has hated anything her whole life, what makes this,” Sokka gestured over to you, “break your indifference?” 

Zuko drew his legs close to himself, a smile started to form on Sokka’s face, leading the ex-prince to believe he already knew, “...just because.” Sokka was silent for a moment and then slapped a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, “well if you ever need love advice you can always come to me.” Sokka smiled largely, while Zuko defended himself, “Woah, whoever said anything about love?” 

Sokka suddenly felt like the objective of this trip was now to help you two make up. I mean besides saving his dad from a highly guarded prison. Priorities. Sokka schemed in his head, 'hmm, let's add some uncertainty to the situation.' “You know it would be unfortunate if anything happened to us in The Boiling Rock,” Sokka shrugged and feigned indifference, “(Y/N) would never know that you weren’t mad at her. She’d probably faint from the memories of you, or even die.” Zuko looked at Sokka with a dead face, “she’s not gonna die.” “SHE MIGHT!” 

“She might what?” You turned at the sound of yelling and put yourself in the conversation, “who?”

“...Oh you know, ...her…,” Zuko smiled a nervous small smile, hoping that that’s everything you heard. You looked suspiciously at the two boys, “...alright then?” 

The rest of the ride was silent but full of Sokka’s side-eyes and Zuko’s sulking.

What if something did happen to them?

\---

“Why did we land here?”

The three of you landed and hopped off the flying bison, you already patting his nose in thanks. Looking around, you wouldn’t have thought you were at your destination, or anywhere at all. However, you know where you all are and what you’re doing. Turning to the fire bender you responded, “can’t you trust the process?” 

Zuko sighed as the boys and you gathered around to begin the heist, “Well there isn’t a prison insight, what’s the process? Not doing it?” “Jeez you’re extraordinary sassy this morning, and follow me,” you rolled your eyes at the boy and walked over to the cliff’s ledge, and there, in the middle of the lake, sat The Boiling Rock. 

“Look the tram is all the way over there,” Sokka pointed over to the entrance of the prison. You sighed, “Come on guys, have a little faith,” you shoved Sokka’s arm and very noticeably didn’t interact with Zuko. Youch. “We won’t be welcomed into one of the largest and most heavily guarded prisons, what you think we’d just stroll on in?” You scoffed at the boys and gestured for them to crouch with you. “If you look here,” you pointed down at a corner of the prison, across the boiling water, “that is the only blind spot in the entire prison, that's our entry.”

“How are we going to get across though, or better yet, down from the cliff?”

“Oh ye of little faith,” you walked away from the ledge and down a faded path, “it should be around here…. Yes!” You looked at the boys and pointed at a stone wall. Sokka and Zuko looked at each other and the back at you, confused. You sighed and walked into the stone wall, disappearing out of thin air. 

“What- (Y/N)?!!” You popped your head back out, well come on!” The boys approached where you were and looked around to see an entrance that wasn’t visible from where they stood. An earth bended tunnel laid ahead, an expertly made path to the bottom of the cliff. “Come on boys!” You smiled and waved them on, disappearing into the dark tunnel. 

The boys stared on, unmoving for a second, “...I know she’s not going to,” Sokka started, “But this would be the perfect chance to kill us.” Zuko turned to him with a doubtful glance, “I’m just sayin’!” Sokka shrugged but was interrupted by you sticking your head back out into the light suddenly, “Hurry up! While the sun is still shining!” and you flew back into the tunnel.

The boys deflated after the scare, but realized in the moment they must've grabbed each other. Coughing, they separated and patted themselves, “...we should-” “I’m gonna-” They both spoke at the same time, nodded, and entered the tunnel with the possibly murderous girl.

“How did you know this was here?” Zuko walked with his hand out, a small flame sat in his palm to give light to the situation. “I’ve told you, I’ve done this before,” you walked in front of him, only slightly so he could lead with the light, while Sokka trailed behind, surprisingly silent. ...Suspicious. 

“Wait, you mean you’ve actually snuck into The Boiling Rock? No one has ever done that!” Zuko skipped a step in shock, looking at you.

“Well, you wouldn’t know. No one in the fire nation knows,” You shrugged, “What are we just going to go up to guards and say ‘Hey, look what I did!’” You waved your hands dramatically to further your point. Zuko sighed, “.. yeah I guess you’re right, but when did you do this?” You thought for a moment, “well about a year ago, for me at least.” “...’ for you’? What does that-” 

“Well, gee aren’t you full of questions, welp! here we are! Don’t step out just yet, we don’t want anyone to see us.”

You three looked out on the boiling lake, standing in the exit to the cave that looked identical to the entrance, out of the fire nation’s eyes. “Okay, so I’ll go first, make an area to stand and then you guys follow one at a time, watch the guards,” you pointed up at the watchtowers, seeing the guard do a usual sweep. Sokka spoke up, “Wait what exactly are you going to do?”

“It’s better to see it than to explain it.” 

Watching the guard, you saw an opening and sprinted to the boiling water, sliding yourself on the ground by cooling down the boiling water into ice and slipping through and opening you created for yourself. You slipped under the water, no ripples or pockets to speak of. The boys looked in shock but watched as the opening stayed, signifying that you were ok.

One by one the boys slid into the bubble below the boiling pond, you were standing there waiting, your arms moved and smooth motion, keeping the water from hitting anyone. The boiling water flowed around you three, moving practically in slow motion around the air that you had trapped inside. You stood in the center as you quickly closed up the entrance to the bubble, making sure that you weren't seen. Zuko looked in awe around, admiring the way you moved so fluidly around this plan, you really know what you were doing. Zuko’s eyes landed on you, who was explaining the next part of the plan to Sokka. You were focused, controlled in every move and word. He wondered how you transitioned from your care-free attitude to this … leader. He stared at you, watching your lips move, your eyebrows shift as you spoke of the next step. He should be listening. 

“...ko, hey, we need to get going.” You looked up at him while he just stared down at you, a small smile on his face. “Zuko?” You didn’t want to show it, but you were a little concerned. Was he backing out? Was the heat getting to him? 

You touched his shoulder and he jumped a little, coming to. Realizing how close you were, the boy took a step back, and you watched in confusion. “Oh well yep! Let's get to it hahaha...ham” Zuko faked a smile, and you almost asked him what was the matter, but remembered your little situation and just smiled back. “Alright let’s keep going!” 

You bended in front of them, slowly moving the bubble to make sure you didn’t draw any attention to yourselves while under the water, completely unaware of the conversation behind you.

“What was that!” Sokka whispered-yelled, “that was your chance!” Zuko sighed quietly, “...she was just so close.” 

“...You sicken me.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do! Just walk up to her and say ‘oh I’m sorry for being a complete asshole, will you forgive me?’” Zuko whispered back, a mocking tone in his voice. Sokka looked at him like he was crazy, “YES that EXACTLY what you need to do! It’s not just going to come up fluidly in the conversation!” 

“...Okay yeah.” 

Sokka realized that there is nothing that words could do anymore, “this is your only opportunity to say anything before we go in,” he took a deep breath, “this is your last chance.”  
Zuko looked at him, looked at you and then back and sighed, “...fine-” “OK GOOD LUCK”

Zuko was pushed forward and into you, the bubble around the three of you stumbled a bit but still retained the shape. You looked surprised behind you, and looked up at Zuko, “you ok- I mean, what was that for??” Your face morphed into a grimace at the boy.

“Sorry…” 

You looked at him, and then just looked ahead and continued to bend the water around you three. Zuko walked next to you now, awkwardly stepping and trying not to look weird, making him look ...weird. He looked back quickly, making a face at the water tribe boy behind the two who was simply giving the man thumbs up. Zuko turned back to face the same way as you, only shifting his eyes to you a couple of times or more, and then he swallowed. 

“So, uh… how was your… morning?” 

“... dude, we really need to work on your small talk. Can you go be weird with Sokka? Kinda busy,” you shooed him off and tried to focus ahead.

Zuko deflated, “Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” he stopped walking and you did too while Sokka watched from the back of the bubble. Zuko grabbed your shoulders, almost making you stumble with the bubble. “I’m sorry that I was angry for no reason, I’m sorry I haven't apologized, I’m sorry about everything I’ve ever done and,” watching your surprised face as he spoke,”... I’m sorry I’ve said ‘I’m sorry’ four times. I just... I need you to talk to me again. I want you to talk to me and laugh again.” His eyes were locked with yours as you looked up at him, shocked.

“...please?”

A silence formed over the three of you, yeah Sokka was still there. Zuko thought he’d messed up, and ran over his apology in his head until he saw your face morph into a smile. You started to giggle a little, and he was confused, ...was it really that ridiculous?

“Thank the moon! It was getting hard to keep pretending,” You smiled up at him, your arms still captured by his grip, which tightened when you were laughing. “I didn’t know how long I was going to last ‘being mad at you’,” you made air quotes with the little movement you had in your arms. 

“You weren’t actually mad?” Zuko looked surprised at you, and you shrugged. “I already said that I didn’t care, I just knew you’d beat yourself up if I didn’t do something,” you looked at him with a small smile and big eyes that made him feel a certain sort of way. “I knew you’d hit yourself harder than anything I could throw at you,” you moved and shifted his grip on your arms, one continuing to bend the bubble around you three, and the other released as you reached to ruffle his hair, “I never can tell what’s going on in that brain of yours.”

Suddenly, without any thought, Zuko started leaning forward and for a moment he could’ve sworn he saw you do the same. Your noses were about to brush against each other … 

Until a girlish yelp was heard from the side of you two. Your lidded eyes shot open and you two realized the position you were in. Jumping back, you coughed while Zuko rubbed his neck looking anywhere but you.

Sokka stood there rubbing his arm, “Sorry to ruin your moment,” (“What moment?” “There was no moment”) “But watch where you’re bending that water, I don’t think third-degree burns will help me today.” 

You gasped, “I burned you? Lemme see I might need to heal it!” You crossed the bubble quickly but Sokka shook his head. “It’s nothing, just get us out of here. It’s a sauna.” He was right, the boiling water wasn’t the most pleasant thing to be surrounded by. I mean it beats fire nation soldiers but who's counting. You nodded and started forward again, although two of you had a little more spring in your step than a minute before.

A couple of minutes later, the three of you exited the bubble the same way you went in, although you were all much wetter than you were before. 

“Alright, now I’m not going in with you but, if you climb up this,” you pointed to the side of the wall, where if you looked closely there were small divots, “and survey the top, you can take some guards out, steal their clothes and look for your dad.” You turned to the boys, “You CANNOT get caught and you CANNOT let anyone know about this escape route. I’m surprised it’s even here, so try not to get captured.” You looked into their eyes and then hugged them together, “please please PLEASE don’t get caught, or hurt, or killed, or tort-”  
“Okay okay, we get it!” Sokka held you tightly as he cut you off, “we’ll be fine.” You smiled up at him as he let go, and you turned to Zuko. “Please be careful,” you looked up at him with scrunched eyebrows, and he smiled a small smile down at you, “I’ll be fine.” 

The eye contact broke as Zuko pulled you into a huge hug, bringing you as close as you could possibly be. You were surprised and looked at Sokka, who was just as surprised, but you hugged him back and felt his arms grow even tighter. “...Are you sure you’re not mad?” You heard Zuko whisper in your ear and you sighed, “Zuko,” You pulled yourself away from him, which proved to be a challenge, the boy wasn’t giving up so easy, and held him at arm’s length, “I am not mad that you saw my naked-” “YOUR WHAT?”

Zuko was torn out of your arms and held against the metal wall that surrounds the prison. You looked at your empty hands, now lacking a fire bending boy, and turned to the scene. “Sokka wait-” “You saw (Y/N) naked? I was wondering why you were so torn up about this but it all makes sense now,” Sokka held Zuko up by his chest, pressing the boy into the wall and knocking the wind out of him, “you’re gonna wish that she was the one mad at you.” 

You bended some water slyly from the lake and cooled it down as you saw Sokka raise a fist, you captured his arm in the water and dragged him away, Zuko falling to the ground catching his breath. You ran and stood in between them, “Sokka! You’re gonna blow our position!” 

“(Y/N)! He saw you naked!”

You took a deep breath, “Sokka, he saw my ‘naked’ BACK.” You mumbled under your breath ‘men’ before turning and checking on Zuko. 

“Your back? What does that matter?” Sokka questioned from the side and you threw your hands in the air, “exactly!” 

Sokka walked up to Zuko, but you remained by the firebender’s side, … in case. The water tribe boy slapped a hand on the fire bender’s shoulder, “I apologize…” he started but suddenly got dark again and gripped the boy's shoulder harder, “but if you treat her wrong-” 

You broke the grip, “OKAY! Time is money and we don’t have any of either, I’ll be at the top of the cliff.” You looked up at the boys, “No matter what, meet me there.” The boys nodded and you hugged them again, the fire bender holder a little tighter than the other before you watched them climb the wall and escaped the way you came.

Watching from the cliff until they made it further into the prison, you climbed on Appa to start the wait. A few hours in, you saw an escape plan hatch, prisoners escaping through the boiling water, but when you realized that Sokka and Zuko weren’t on board, you felt your stomach drop.

You guys needed help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the huge delay with an update, I've been pretty busy!
> 
> This is so not edited so I'm sorry for any mistakes, They'll be fixed I promise!


	14. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Boiling Rock Part 3

You watched from the cliff’s edge as the escapees got captured and taken back to the prison, sweat dripped down from your forehead and you weren’t sure if it was from the heat or the fact that your friends were still in there. You contemplated if you were overreacting, I mean come on, Sokka and Zuko are smart! They wouldn’t get captured so fast right? 

…

“Shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT!” You ran off and climbed Appa faster than you had ever before, taking off into the sky at an unbelievable speed. You had to go get help and you needed to go fast. Ah shit, ...you’re never going to hear the end of this. 

\--- 

It had only been a couple of minutes of extreme flying, you were sure that Appa wasn’t very happy at the rush when you began to feel anxious again. You couldn't place it but the drop in your stomach and your shaking arms were telling you to turn around. 

“Ahhh!” you gripped your head and curled up a little, “There’s no way I could do anything! I need Katara and Aang and Toph! I can’t turn around!” You scrunch your eyes closed trying to focus on the problem in front of you.

You took a deep breath to calm down, putting your hands in your land and deflating into a relaxed position. You sat for what felt like hours like that, but you knew it had only been a minute more, but you’d come to the conclusion. 

You grabbed the reins and pulled back, stopping the flying bison much to his confusion. Pulling them diagonally, you turned Appa around and stared at the empty desert that you had just crossed.

“Yip Yip.”  
\---

Zuko blasted fire toward his sister as they fought on top of the tram, precariously above the boiling water that bubbled from below the two. She dodged, launching over the fire bender and landing safely behind the boy, stance ready and knowing. Zuko watched as Azula started to attack again, he stepped back but found himself closer to the roof’s edge than anyone would normally like to be. 

Zuko looked down for a split second just in time to see Sokka hanging out of the tram, struggling with being attacked and holding on. ‘Oh shit!’ Zuko began to make a rescue plan in his head but Azula didn’t take kindly to being ignored and began her offense. The girl brought her foot down to try and land on Zuko’s face, flames licked his skin but didn’t burn as he barely dodged the attack, knowing that her other leg was soon to follow.

Zuko panicked, between two hard places, as he fought to try and help Sokka, but Azula knew what he was trying to do and was effectively trying to stop him, “Oh little Zuzu, what ever will you do to help your friend?” Azula smiled and jumped up and slammed back down on the tram, making the metal box swing. 

“Ahhh!” Sokka yelled as the tram shook, one hand slipping as he watched Ty Lee approach where he was hanging. “Such a shame, you’re really cute.” 

Zuko looked down off the ledge to see what was happening, but Azula again brought his attention back to her, “Why don’t you help your new friend, Zuzu?” Zuko glared at her, angry that she’d even go as far to do this but was drawn to the figure that was approaching behind the girl.

Sokka watched as Ty Lee went to step on his fingers, trying to make him slip off the tram. “So sorry,” She smiled and stomped down, Sokka screamed as he was forced to release the bar and began falling. Yelling he watched as he fell away from the tram and down to his steamy death below. 

Almost as quick as the stomp, Sokka watched as Ty Lee was launched out of the tram from the very place that Sokka was hanging from. A funnel of water launched out of the tram, shooting toward Sokka and he wouldn’t tell you, but he screamed louder in fear of the water arm. Water folded around him, slowing his fall and began dragging him back to the tram. 

As he rose above the tram he saw you standing there heavily focused on bending the water that surrounded and saved him. You sighed in relief when you saw him and placed him on the tram safely. “Thank the moon,” You hugged him for a second before holding him out and punching him in the shoulder, “Can’t you do one thing without almost dying! I’m getting tired of this!”  
You looked around the gondola to see Hakoda and Suki lying on the ground, obviously unable to move, chi blocked. “Oh shit, sorry,” you bent down to heal them, and got them up and going very fast, simply speeding up their chi healing. “A little help here!” Zuko called from the roof, and you all began to try and get to the top when Suki gasped. “She’s still here!” You all looked out and watched as Ty Lee ran up the wire of the tram, somehow managing to come up unharmed by the launch. Everyone quickly climbed to the top, and fight ensued again. 

After a few moments, you saw the end in sight, you were almost to the land. Aiding in the protection of your friends grew hard, Azula soon finding out that you were ruining her attacks and started pointing her attacks at you. Zuko did the fighting for you and you were able to protect him from many attacks, the two of you flowed seamlessly together and even Azula seemed to be put off by the tactic. 

It seemed all in your favor, you were going to win… until you heard the guards yell to cut the wire.

Azula smiled at you and stopped her attacks, and you and Zuko looked at each other. Ty Lee flipped away from the other and stood next to Azula smiling as well.

“You can’t cut the wire! You’ll go down too, we’ll all die!” Zuko yelled at his sister, trying to show the idiocy of the situation. She continued to smile and then spoke quietly to Zuko, “goodbye brother.” The two girls jumped from the moving gondola, onto an adjacent moving to the left of them. The five of you watched in awe as they moved toward the prison, and away from the rest of them.

“They’re cutting us down…,” you spoke quietly as you stood too close to the edge for anyone comfort, and everyone’s eyes moved to the controls and lo and behold, the guards were sawing the wire. Zuko stood behind you and you both watched it begin to be cut and you looked up at the boy, “...is there anything we can do?” He looked at your face, fear and sadness were written on your face, you obviously knew the answer. You turned and faced the others when had similar looks too. 

You looked forward and leaned into the boy, “it’s been fun,” you whispered and looked up at the sky for a moment. The sounds faded and you felt Zuko wrap an arm around you as you tried to come to terms with what may happen, you were in the middle of the lake and there was nowhere for you to go. So you waited…

…

The gondola jerked forward, you were so caught off guard you felt your foot slip forward and off the roof. Zuko’s arm was still wrapped around you and tightened at the motion catching you from falling off. You all looked out and off the tram and looked as Mai was restrained by guards and the team continued to move. You and Zuko looked at each other, still in each other's arms and you smiled at him and detached from him. You left to get ready to get off and made sure everyone was okay while Zuko continued to watch the prison get smaller in the distance. 

He knew that she may not see, but he raised his hand to Mai in thanks for what she gave up for doing this, Zuko knows Azula and he knows what she will do. He stared for a few moments but then regrouped with the others as they began their journey back.

They won.

\---

“You lose your Appa privileges for 2 days.”

You gasped and ran over to the beast, “NOO, you can’t do this to us,” you cried and hugged the bison's fur, who just stared and then continued to eat hay after being interrupted.

“You lose your Suki privileges for 2 days.”

Sokka scoffed, “You can’t control whether or not I hang out with Suki, she’s her own person she can do what she wants.” Sokka looked smugly at the girls, but Katara and Suki looked at each other and smiled. “Seems fair to me,” Suki shrugged in amusement as Sokka deflated and laid on the ground, sad.

Toph rubbed her face in thought, as if she had a beard, as she stared out at Zuko. The boy stood there confused and kinda worried, Aang and Katara’s punishments seemed to get to you two. He looked around, uncomfortable with the eyes on him. Toph sighed, “Why’d I get the newbie, what does he even like?”

Aang shrugged and smiled, “hey, the oldest chooses first.” You glared at him, still peeved at him taking away your best friend, “you shouldn’t count, ice boy.” Toph continued to think while you and Aang stuck your tongues out at each other when she got an idea. 

“You lose your (Y/N) privileges for 2 days.”

Zuko’s jaw dropped and whipped his head to you, who had a similar look on your face. “That’s not fair! That’s basically two punishments for me!” you left the eating bison’s side and threw your hands around as you stood next to Zuko who just watched as you fought for yourself. Toph shrugged, “It is what it is, I ain’t changing anything.” The little girl walked away and you followed her and continued to complain. 

Zuko watched you walk away, and he sighed. It may have been overshadowed by your reaction but he was kinda bummed at the punishment. I mean he just made amends with you and now he can’t be around you for two days even KNOWING you’re not mad at him? Wack. He sulked as Sokka walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder, “We can do it, we’ll have em’ back soon.” Zuko gave Sokka a look and then made his way back to pack up.  
\---

“This is stupid.”

You sighed as you sat on the far end of Appa’s saddle next to Suki. Sokka and Zuko sat across the way at the other side of the saddle, Zuko was twiddling his thumbs while Sokka was complaining like a child, melted into the saddle and sighing every 3 seconds. Toph and Katara sat across from each other on the other sides of the saddle, almost as a buffer for the four of you in these privilege-less times. 

Suki patted your back, you’d barely known her and were already bonding, she’s great, “You only have today left you’ll be fine.” You sighed and looked up at Zuko and locked eyes with the boy. He quickly glanced away from you, pink on his cheeks, yours gaining a similar hue. You smiled when he looked back at you and he smiled a little at you too, as much as Zuko smiled. 

You decided to have some fun and describe your feelings about this to him, you pretended to have a sword in your hands, catching Zuko’s attention. Playing with the fake sword for a minute you suddenly pointed the tip toward your chest and pretended to stab yourself and you exaggeratedly fell dead and landed on Suki who laughed, watching the scene herself. You laughed and raised your head up from her body but still pretended to be limp and dead, expecting to see Zuko smiling a little bigger or even laughing, but you were surprised. 

Zuko sat there with his eyebrows drawn together, glaring in Suki’s direction, who was too busy messing around with your fake limp body to notice. He had his arms locked in front of him, his hands in fists on the saddle. In your opinion, he looked like a pouting child. 

Confused at the sudden change in attitude, you leaned further into Suki who was none the wiser to the situation and wrapped your arms around her, closing your eyes until they were open just so you could see out of your lashes. Suki laughed and hugged you as well, confused at the hug but eh. You watched as Zuko’s face scrunched up, even more, his cheeks grew red and he looked away and crossed his arms. You knew it.

You gave Suki another squeeze and then released her and she went back to her own devices unfazed. You looked at Zuko until he glanced back in your direction, and when you caught his eye again you smiled wide at him. Reaching out you made grabby hands and puckered your lips at him, not actually trying to get to him just getting his attention. Zuko looked at you with a red face, trying to cover it up with his hands unsuccessfully. 

You two were interrupted by Katara, “Hey! No (Y/N), Zuko!” 

“Hey! She started it!” Zuko defended himself but when Katara looked at you you shrugged, “I have no idea what he’s talking about.” Katara looked at Zuko like a disappointed mother and he deflated. Katara went back to her book while Zuko tried to look out and into the sky passing by.

He swears he could hear you giggle underneath the sounds of the wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Boiling Rock plot lasted a lot longer than I thought it would in this so I'm glad we are moving on after this chapter :)
> 
> I'm going off of memory and also purposely trying to change things up so sorry if it's not completely accurate to the show! It's not my intention to just add in the reader, I want her to be important!


	15. The Summer Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You all get settled at Zuko's family home.

You landed last night, everyone was exhausted and decided to just go straight to bed, and in your case, you’d already fallen asleep on Appa. Waking up in a strange room in a strange house alone was not on your to-do list. But the morning came and it was time to get settled into the Zuko’s family home. 

“Ooo, I want the room with a view!”

“I need the one with the personal bathroom!”

“The room by the kitchen is mine!”

You, Sokka, and Aang excitedly squabbled with each other as you guys ran around the courtyard to find your rooms. Hey, it was exciting to actually sleep in a room instead of in a tent! Running around you ran into a room and spun in a circle, smiling at the space. The room was lighter and well lit, relying a lot on the natural light coming into the room. The bed was huge and plush, very basic fire nation decorations hung on the walls and around the windows. Everything was simple but just seemed so… expensive. You ran up to the window that showed a beautiful view of the beach. Sometimes it was hard to think the world was at war when places like this exist. Well, I guess the people are at war, not so much the beach. 

You tore yourself away from the beach, knowing you should probably unpack your few belongings that you’ve acquired while traveling with Aang. It’s weird to think you only had the clothes on your back when they found you, and it was only a small amount of time that you’ve all known each other. It already feels like they’re your family. 

You reached into your bag and pulled out a thick scarf. Speaking of family. You gazed down at the article, knitted by hand and delicately designed with the designs of the northern water tribe. You sighed to yourself, you could feel your eyes burn with the beginnings of tears as you delved into the thoughts of your past. 

Only to be interrupted by a large thump and ‘shit!’ that comes from the room beside you. You had looked up at the noise, gazing back at the scarf in your hands you sighed and folded it, putting it safely in the drawer beside the bed and went to leave the room. Peering into the room beside yours you saw your favorite fire bender rubbing the top of his head. He was standing quite close to an eye-level shelf that did look very evil and angry, so you assumed the situation. 

“... You okay?” You smiled a little into the room, leaning yourself on the doorway. Zuko obviously hadn’t noticed your presence and jumped, whipping his head toward you with a small “fuck!” You put your hands up in surrender, “Woah, those aren’t such princely words,” he glared at you but you could tell he wasn’t actually angry, “princey.”

He sighed, “You know maybe I should ask Toph if she could prolong my punishment,” he smirked at you and you laughed and entered his room, flopping yourself on his bed. 

“Oh but Zuko wherever would you get this premium entertainment if you did,” You laid back on his bed and laughed. He huffed a laugh as well and went back to unpacking while you two talked. You looked at the pictures on his nightstand and the decor around the room. You saw photos of his family, they all seemed relatively happy, except a certain little girl looked more like she was scheming. Small knives rested on the walls as a decoration, although they looked very real and the rest of the room was minimally decorated. With no connotation, you asked, “is this your old room?” 

Zuko sighed, “Yeah, it felt kind of weird to go into a different room,” he looked around, “I also didn’t want anyone in a bed I slept in when I was like 10.” You scrunched up your nose, “ I don't know why but for some reason I understand.” He nodded as he hung up some of his clothes. 

“I thought you were just following me around and took the room next to mine, like a weirdo,” you said and looked out the window. Zuko froze for a second and then asked, “you know that’s actually my mother’s room.” You looked surprised at him and then smiled, looking at a photo of her, “Well she has good taste, it’s a good room.” Zuko smiled at you and the thought of his mother, deciding to take a break and flop down on the bed with you, facing the ceiling with your heads near each other. 

“I think she stayed in that room for me,” he spoke softly now, and without saying why you already knew somehow. Nightmares. You’d have them too with a father and sister like him, and you knew the look he gave, you’d seen it before. “I liked that she was near, she might’ve been the only constant in my life,” Zuko continued to stare up at the ceiling, wondering why he was even telling you all this, “and then one day she was gone.” 

You slowly reached out and grabbed his hand, “it’s not easy, losing someone so close.” Zuko realized what you’d meant and squeezed your hand a little, “...she’s out there though, I can feel it.” 

“Yeah, everyone lives through their spirits.”

“...No I mean she’s somewhere, I need to find her.”

“...wait, your mom is alive?”

“I think so.”

You turned to him surprised and pointed a finger at him, “You told me your mom was dead!” Zuko sat up and fought back, “Why would I tell you that? What would I benefit from saying my mom was dead??”

You threw your hands in the air, “I don’t know? Sympathy? Friendship?” Zuko seemed to deflate at the idea, “are you only nice to me because you thought my mom was dead?” You sighed and tried to calm down, “No! I only like you because of your great personality,” you joked. 

Zuko deadpanned while you smiled at the joke and fell back down on the bed, “I don’t know why I’m acting like that, it’s good your mom is alive and I hope we find her.” You sighed and thought for a moment, “I guess I don’t know that much about you and I actually knew LESS than I thought.” Zuko began to lay back down opposite of you, just like before, “well I guess you know more now?”

You looked up at him, “I guess you’re right. I hope I get to meet her someday,” you smiled and patted his arm. “I hope you do too-” “I can ask her how she raised such a loser son,” Zuko slapped your arm as you laughed at the comment. You fake gasped as the smack, “How dare you hit a lady!” 

“‘A lady?’”

“Hey!

You rolled around on the bed until you could effectively try and hit him back, but you are dealing with a very well trained fire bending prince. 

Long story short when Suki came to tell you guys that lunch was ready, she wasn’t expecting you to be pinned under Zuko while he laughed at you struggling to raise your arms, flailing your legs and kicking him, very effectively, in the butt.

“...When ya'll are done, soups on…”  
You whipped your head over to Suki and made a sad face, “help me! I’m dying!” Suki laughed at your fake cry and looked over at Zuko, who seemed embarrassed at being caught playing around. “Make it quick, it’ll be a lot quieter around here,” Suki smirked and then walked out as you gasped. 

“I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!”

\---

Glares followed Suki all throughout dinner, but the girl remained visibly unfazed. You and Zuko sat next to each other as you ate, still continuing some small conversation while the rest of the group conversed together. The beach wormed its way into the conversation. 

“You know this is the first time I’ve actually been to a fire nation beach,” you said out of the blue as you looked out on the water in wonder. Zuko watched your face as you zoned out, and he tried to clear his thoughts but you filled his head, and he could only think how much he- 

“What? Really?” Aang questioned, surprised at the idea, “I used to go all the time!” Zuko was confused, of course, you hadn’t been to a fire nation beach, we’ve been at war for almost 100 years! When would you get the chance? 

“Well you are a little older than me mister avatar sir,” You sassed him but laughed a little, the others giggling as well. 

“Yeah but-” 

“Why don’t we go down today?” Katara asked, looking at the water herself, “It would be nice to cool down and relax for a minute.” Zuko watched as you visibly got excited about the beach, “I have to finish unpacking but yeah! To the beach!”

“To the beach!”

You and Zuko went back to your rooms together, separating when he reached his room, both of you had to unpack some more. 

You picked up your bag and unloaded the rest of its contents. Storing away your heavy winter water tribe clothing, you noticed something red bunched up in the back of a drawer. Confused, you pulled it out and gasped into a smile. You almost ran out of the room but stopped yourself at the doorway, yelling down the hall but with the intent of talking to Zuko. 

“Zuko! Can I wear something that I found in the room?!”

“..Uhh what is it?” His muffled voice came from his room as the door was shut.

“A swimsuit!” 

“Go ahead.”

You excitedly went into your room to change. You had only had your underclothes the entire time you’ve been traveling, and while they work for what you’re trying to do in the water, they absorb so much it gets heavy. It will be nice to have a swimsuit!

You began to undress, about to try the swimsuit on when there was a knock at the door, “I heard you found a swimsuit?”

Katara’s voice came through the door while you turned to open it, covering yourself where you needed too and let her in. One girl became two and Katara and Suki were standing in the doorway, both dressed already for the water. “Yeah! Come in! I’m putting it on!” 

They were turned away from you while you completely undressed and put on the bikini. Finding a mirror in your room to look at it, you gasped. The bikini was a bright red tone with gold strings, being a very fire nation piece. The triangles of the top were enough to cover the bits, but that seemed to be all there concerned about while they made this. It was very revealing, covering what needed to be covered and nothing more, “I’m not so sure about this…”

The girls turned around to see the bikini, watching you continue to spin in the suit, your eyebrows progressively scrunching up more at each turn. The girls instantly started with compliments, “It looks amazing!” “How do you pull this off so well?” You looked at them and then back at yourself in the mirror, “You know, maybe it doesn’t look that bad.” You smiled at yourself and did a twirl, more confident than before. 

“Wait till’ Zuko sees!”

And there goes that shit. You turned slowly to them with wide eyes, “absolutely not, I’m changing.” The girl’s faces dropped and Suki stepped forward, “Oh come on! You look amazing!” You shook your head and started to go and get your regular underclothes but your arms were restrained by the two girls. Looking up at them they had evil smiles on their faces. “What are you doing? Let me go!” The girls nodded at each other and then proceeded to start dragging you to the door. “Wait! No!” You struggled to kick away from them, being the weakest of the crew, yeah it didn’t go so well. 

They got you to the door, and you pushed against the door with your legs, “Ah Hah! Try me now suckers!” They kept pushing trying to get a grip of the door to open it and you thought you had won.

“(Y/N)? I heard screaming are you okay?” “NO-” 

The door opened and you flew forward. The force of the push sent you flying as they released your arms. You heard a large ‘thunk’ thinking you hit the ground, but as you landed, you realized you were on something softer. Looking up Zuko’s face was inches from your own, his face twisted in pain while he held the back of his head with his hand. Your body rested on his, your legs in between his own and your chests were flush.

All you had to think was this is some bull fucking shit.  
Zuko groaned and you jumped into action, “Oh shit are you okay?? Come on, let’s go get some water I’ll heal you!” You pushed yourself up so you were propped away from his body, now sitting between his legs as you went to pull him into a sitting position. You didn’t want to make him dizzy by standing up too fast. 

Zuko opened his eyes slowly, seeing red first. He snapped himself into focus, realizing it was you in front of him. He almost passed out. He wasn’t sure if it was you or hitting his head but he had a pretty good idea it was equal parts of the two. You sat in front of him, your hands on his shoulders to help him sit up. Your face was twisted in concern as if he was just stabbed. 

Zuko wasn’t this way normally, but you did tell him you’d found a swimsuit and boy if curiosity didn’t get the best of him. He dropped his gaze down and instantly regretted it. His face blew up, red filling his cheeks and rising up to his ears. He tried to lean back but you had a better grip on him than he did on reality right now. “...holy shit…,” you heard him mumble before you got concerned. 

“Hey, are you alright?” You scooted forward and reached out to feel his forehead, not making the situation much better, “You look flushed… and you’re on fire! Come on, let’s get you healed before anything bad happens!” You stood up, leaning down to help grab him from under his arms. Unfortunately for Zuko’s mental state, the position accidentally gave him a great view of your chest. Zuko stumbled while standing at the sight, “Oh my fucking…” 

“Girl’d can I get some… where the fuck did they go??” You looked around as you tried to prop this boy against you to go to the fountain in the courtyard. Of course, they’re gone. “Okay Okay, come on big guy.” You got him to stand, and while he seemed to be standing fine, his eyes were wide and his face was red as he stared at you. 

You looked up at him with a weird face, “are you okay at all?” Zuko suddenly snapped out of the trance he seemed to be in, looking at you and then your lack of clothing and covering his face. “...UH YEah, yep,” He looked anywhere but you and his face remained red, “perfect actually.”

You weren’t swayed, however, “...okay well let’s get to the courtyard.” You lightly pushed the fire bender’s back to get him to move forward and ushered him to the fountain. Where was this capable movement when you were trying to pick him up?? 

Reaching the water you sat him on the ledge where he willingingly looked away from you. You reached out to feel the back of his head, locating a small swollen area at the base of it. Pressing lightly on the bump, Zuko pulled forward breathing in through his teeth. 

Patting his back you apologized, “Sorry sorry, just wanted to make sure I knew where I was,” and you started to heal him up. The two of you sat in silence, you were focused while Zuko was lost in thought once again, his ears were still visibly red to you. 

When you finished up you felt for the bump again and found the swelling had gone down, you dragged your hands through his hair to the top of his head. Zuko wasn’t expecting the feeling of your hands crawling up his head and a shiver ran through his body. ‘What is this woman doing to me?’ Zuko thought to himself, increasingly worried about his self-control in this situation.

He felt your hands start to move again, slowly at first but then increased into a noogie at the top of his head. You started laughing, making this interaction a lot less tense as Zuko tried to brush you away. 

“Hey! Stop tha- Now you’re just grabbing my hai-”

“...Uh, you guys coming?” 

The two of you froze, your hands still tangled in his hair but his arms wrapped around you trying to pull you off but very ineffectively doing so. Aang stared at you guys from a distance, a cloth to use as a towel in his hand as he was heading to the beach. You tried to step off the side of the fountain but Zuko’s grip managed to trip you up. 

You fell onto the ground but as quick as it happened you stood back up, Smiling too large at Aang in front of you. The boy raised an eyebrow, “You okay?-” 

“YEP, We’re coming right now, right Zuko?” You grabbed his hand without a response, “right! To the beach!” You marched forward with the fire bender in tow right past the Avatar. Aang watched you two pass, seeing your fake smile over your nervous state, and Zuko’s poor attempt to not look at you. 

He sighed, smiling after you two, “ahh, young love.” 

\---

“I feel like you don’t know how pale you are,” you absentmindedly said. You sat behind Zuko on his bed, he was shirtless and sitting up with his arms out, trying to not touch his own body. “I wasn’t even in the sun that long,” he hissed when the cool water met his skin, “I don’t know what happened.”

He knew exactly what happened. Zuko was taking every opportunity to be around you at the beach, meaning he was in the sun too often and enough to get burnt everywhere. Even when you were in the shade, he was in the sun talking to Sokka, well more like ignoring Sokka while he wondered what you and Suki were talking about a couple of feet away. So he was in the sun that long, but that’s not something you needed to know. 

“Can’t you like, bend the sun?” You moved the water over to his shoulders receiving another hiss. 

“I hope you’re joking.”

“...yeah.”

Another silence fell over you two as you healed his back, Zuko was still awkward from earlier today. You had changed and were in comfortable clothes as night took over and everyone had gone to bed after the beach. Swimming will always take the energy out of you. Speaking of being drained, you were exhausted. This healing session was really taking a lot out of you, you had even begun to sway a little. 

Zuko felt you bend the water off his newly healed back, the tingly feeling starting to subside. The silence was still strong, Zuko could hear you shuffle behind him thinking you were moving to get off the bed. The boy went to get up but was interrupted by a weight on the top of his back, “...(Y/N)?” 

“Mmmhmm?” 

Zuko tried to look back at you and was only able to see the top of your head leaning against his back. Zuko huffed a laugh and smiled at the sight, feeling slightly guilty that you got so tired from healing him. He started to shift around to get a better grip on you, “You need some help?” 

You picked your head off of his back as he turned to face you, your eyes lidded as you looked up at him, “mmm...no I’m good, you all good?” You gestured to his back and shoulders and he nodded, surprised you’re concerned about him while you were in this state. You smiled a little, “Good.” Zuko watched you slowly shuffle around his bed and catch yourself from falling while you stood up off the bed. Zuko seemed frozen watching you in amusement as you took yourself to the door. 

Reaching the doorway you turned around and Zuko felt like he got caught for just staring. “If you need anything, I’m right,” you pointed with your thumb over to your door, “over there.” Zuko almost laughed, of course, he knew you were over there but played along, “thank you, goodnight (Y/N).” You smiled at him with a sleepy smile, “goodnight Zuko.”

Zuko watched you walk out of sight of the door and impulsively Zuko stood and practically ran over to the door and peeked out after you. He watched you concerned as you swayed a little to your room, but was relieved when you made it into your room. He hears you shuffle around your bed and then a soft thump of you falling into your bed. 

Satisfied, he walked back to his bed and put on a shirt he seemed to have forgotten he wasn’t wearing. Sliding into bed, he didn’t feel any pain with the burn, acknowledging that you were really good at what you did before he began to fall asleep. Thoughts of you filled his head and if he was ever to get the image of you in that suit out of his head, he might actually fall asleep.

\---

Zuko gasped and lurched forward. He rubbed his face furiously and rubbed his eyes looking around his room quickly. He sighed remembering where he was. Nightmares again. Zuko deflated and fell back into his bed. 

This dream was the new usual, you and him, you were disappointed in him, he tried to get to you, you died, he woke up. It kinda hurts him that this is what his brain dreams of you when you and the gang are the best things in his life right now. He felt himself fall into a state of unrest, a usual feeling for the past couple of days.

The last time he had a good night's sleep was… the tent.

Zuko shot up and out of his bed, making quick work of the small trip to your door. He stood in the doorway, seeing your sleeping form under a big blanket. He froze suddenly, ‘what the hell am I doing?’ Zuko stared at you nervously, ‘I can’t wake her up for me, I already took enough of her time and energy today.’ He sighed and looked at the ground, thinking about what else he could do, maybe some tea, or count some sheep-goats. Ugh, those never work. “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath, defeated as he was about to head back to bed. 

Giving you one last look over he almost jumped. You were sitting up in your bed, rubbing one eye with your hand. Letting your hand drop, you looked with tired eyes over at Zuko who was practically sweating in his boots. Seeing how stressed and tired he looked, you already knew what was happening. Not saying anything you patted the empty side of your bed, smiling slightly up at the boy. 

Zuko was surprised at the invitation but told himself he shouldn’t be. You were always like this. Even with him. Especially with him. 

So tired and now full of emotion, Zuko shuffled himself over to your bed. You had already laid down, and if it weren’t for your barely open eyes, he would’ve thought you were asleep. He slid under the covers but tried to keep his distance from you. Your eyebrows furrowed when you realized he was practically falling off the bed, and in your sleepy state, you attempted to pull the boy closer. 

Zuko’s face heated up as he realized you were trying to bring him further onto the bed. Giving in to your wishes, hoping it would make you fall asleep again, he scooted forward and closer to you. 

Your eyes closed and you smiled slightly, you wrapped an arm over his waist, the warmth of his body lulling you back to sleep. Zuko thought this contact would keep him wide awake but after a minute of the comfort of you and the bed, he was almost out as well.

“Goodnight Zuko.”

“Goodnight (Y/N).”

“Mm… goodni...ko”

Zuko huffed a little sleepy laugh, “goodnight (Y/N).”

“Mm… ni….o.”

The fire bender only pulled you closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer, hope that's okay!
> 
> Your comments are giving me life by the way! It is my only motivation to continue this! So thank you for telling me how much you like it!
> 
> Also 250 Kudos?? Amazing I love ya'll :)


	16. The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up by Zuko's side, and you reminice on your life.

You woke up to vibration on your neck. Slowly opening your eyes, you fluttered your lashes and looked around slightly, your head still stuck to the pillow. Nothing interesting in sight you yawned, bringing your hand up to- wait what. 

Tilting your head down, a head of almost black hair stuck neatly into the place between your neck and shoulder. The shifting made the head groan again, the vibration hitting your chest and sending chills down your body. Well, that’s a way to wake up. 

You attempted to raise your hand again but found yourself restrained at the waist, a surprisingly strong arm wrapped around you almost uncomfortably. How did you even sleep like this?? You attempted to slip your hand out from under the arm as you slowly came to your senses in these early morning hours. ‘Yes!’ you congratulated yourself as you freed your arm from under the fire bender’s grasp. Holding your arm up in the air and away from the boy, as if he was going to grab it back while he was asleep, you realized that you don’t actually know what that accomplished in your circumstance. 

“Shit,” you mumbled under your breath as you rested you hand down again. You surveyed the situation. You could just wake him up. And take away the little hours of sleep he gets? No. Sneak out? Buckle up for this.

Your bodies were completely flush, not helping in your seamless escape. There will be seams. Probably holes too. With your free arm, you reached down to your waist slowly and got a light grip on his arm. You felt yourself sweat at the focus, maybe you could use it like butter and squeeze yourself out. Okay gross. 

Grabbing his arm you gently lifted it up, heavier than you thought but nonetheless you moved it slowly over to lay on the boy's side. You smiled at your success, and turned to roll away from Zuko, free from the arm’s prison. You had barely moved an inch before the arm came back full force. 

Zuko gripped you around the waist again, but a leg was swung over yours, effectively trapping you both ways. You felt him dig his face into your neck, his nose and lips rubbed against you and you found yourself sweating even more.

“...(Y/N)...”

You froze. Was he awake?! “...Zuko?” You whispered and waited for a response. Listening to only silence for what felt like a couple minutes, you sighed in relief. You didn’t know what was worse, you making him up or… him dreaming about you? You shooed the thought out of your head, more important things to think about. 

You carefully unwound your body from the boy again, now all your limbs within your grasp. Alright, so slow and steady didn’t work before so … fast. You wound yourself toward Zuko a little and then flung your body away from him, rolling to the edge of the bed. 

And then off the bed.

“Ah shit!” you whisper-yelled at yourself as you crashed into the floor. The flooring absorbed your fall, only a muffled thumb was echoed, but a groan still came from up above you. Peeking your head over the side of the bed expecting to see Zuko awake, you were pleasantly amused to find him patting the bed where you were, still asleep. You grabbed a pillow and quickly threw it in his arms, watching as he grabbed it and pulled it tightly against him. 

You smiled and stood all the way up, satisfied with your escape. Ignore the bruise on your arm, that never happened. 

You were about to make your way out of the room when you heard him mumble your name again. Your curiosity got the best of you this time, and you turned to face the boy. Waiting for him to say something in his dream state you took a step closer to the bed and sat at the end, getting a closer look at the boy. 

You could only see the side of his face that was scarred, the rest buried in his pillow. You stared at him, leaning into the bed to get closer. You relished in the fact that he looked so at ease. The knot in the brows was smooth and his face relaxed. Or at least the side you could see was. Looking at his scar gave you mixed emotions. Obviously you were mad someone had done this to him and knowing it was his father, and knowing that he was so young made it even worse. But you also felt sad knowing that he lived every day with this as a reminder that he wasn’t good enough for his father, his own family. You sighed and reached out without a thought. Your fingers grazed the surface of his face, barely touching the scarred skin. A low groan followed your touch,

“...yes…”

You jumped back and held the offending hand to your chest in surprise. Blushing at the way the simple word was said you had a million thoughts running through your head. 

“(Y/N)... please…”

Alright and you’re out of here! 

You stood up quickly and ran out of the room on your toes, trying your best not to make any noise. Stepping out of the room you ran down the hallway and into the courtyard. You didn’t care about the noise anymore as you ran heel to foot to the fountain before stopping suddenly at the edge. You blasted water out of the fountain and onto your face, as you gasped for breath from running and now practically drowning yourself. You held yourself over the fountain and gazed into your reflected image in the water as you caught your breath.

“...you okay?” 

You whipped your head over to see Katara sitting near a just made fire, frozen in a surprised position. You probably looked crazy, wet hair and red-faced running through the courtyard straight to the fountain. Patting your hair down and bending the dripping water off your face you coughed into your hand and nodded before going over to help her get breakfast started. 

\---

Breakfast consisted of you, Katara, Suki, Aang and a healthy serving of eggs. 

Katara gathered everyone’s attention with a question, “You know, Zuko is usually up by now,” she looked around, “wonder what’s up with him?” Three sets of eyes landed on you, who was mid trying to shove some egg in your mouth, “why’re ya lookin at me?”

Aang shrugged, “I feel like you’d know out of all of us.” You swallowed your food before you waved your hands at the comment, “I don’t keep tabs on the guy, people. He’s probably just tired from the beach yesterday.” You tried to ignore your memory of the morning popping up again and watched as the others went back to their conversations, apparently believing your very valid excuse. 

Sokka came trudging out of the summer home, clearly not appreciating being awake. “Hey, did you save me anything?” One sad egg sat in the middle of the plate, as he looked into it. Katara shrugged, “we haven’t been to the market in a while, it was all we had left.” Sokka sulked but still took the one egg and practically ate it in one bite. You and Suki laughed at him while Katara flicked his ear while she walked past. 

Suki and Aang began clearing up the fire, and you shuffled around, not particularly wanting to return to your room where Zuko was seemingly sleeping.

“Hey (Y/N), can you go check on Zuko and wake up Toph? I want to make sure they aren’t dead or something,” Katara waved at you from the steps of the home, before walking into the house without waiting for a response. “Ah-...” You sighed as you watched her walk out of sight and sighed, “...I guess.” 

Deciding to go to your room first, you were still in your sleep clothes and you needed to change. Reaching the room, you peered around the corner to find Zuko still peacefully sleeping in the same position you found him. Despite what Katara said, you weren’t waking him up, previously mentioned, he needed the rest. You snuck around the bed and into the dressers. Picking out your usual clothes, you tiptoed out of the room, only speeding up when you heard a small groan. You ended up changing in Zuko’s room.

Freshly dressed, you left your other clothes in Zuko’s room and walked out to head to Toph’s. You made your way across the house and entered her room. Snoring up a storm, Toph was fast asleep and spread out among her sheets. You laughed at the sight before sitting on the bed next to her and shaking her a bit.

“Hey Toph, you need to get up,” but she just groaned and flipped over, “hey come on’ don’t make me get some water.” Unfazed by the threat, Toph raised her hand and waved you off, “nooo.” 

You didn’t fall for her sweeter tone so early in the morning and got up and stood by the end of the bed, grabbing her arms to pull her out of bed. “Come on, girl!” you pulled her up in a sitting position, “rise and shine, buddy!” She groaned at the movement, “mom stop…”

You stopped when you heard her words before breaking into a smile. You released her arms and watched as she flopped back onto the bed. “Oh yeah, would your mom do this?” 

“What are you-”

Toph was interrupted by a weight coming down on her. You had jumped on the girl, and wrestled her around, wrapping her in the sheets. Well that woke her up.

“Stop! You’re killing me!” She yelled at you as you rolled around. Now considering what happened earlier this morning, you’d think you would be a little more cautious when rolling on a bed, but alas, you’re so unbelievably stupid.  
The two of you began to fall, and you whipped around and angled yourself so you’d be the one hitting the ground. For a second time today, you crashed into the ground, this time with the weight of a small child added. You sat on the ground, Toph’s sheet burrito keeping her intact. 

Detangling yourself and Toph, she glared at you while you sat on the ground and smiled. Reaching out you hugged her, “aren’t you my favorite little earth bender!” Toph kicked you off, “alright, who sent you and how much are they paying you to kill me.” You laughed and ruffled her hair while standing up, “just get up and get dressed, it’s almost lunchtime.” 

Toph sighed and got up to get her usual clothes, “alright, alright just get out of here, weirdo.” Laughing lightly you left the room knowing that Toph was smiling too. 

\---

“What do you mean we don’t have anything for lunch??” 

Sokka flailed his arms around, outraged at the idea that lunch might not be. Katara sighed, “first off, I said we only had a few vegetables for lunch, but also remember? We haven’t been to the market in a while.” Katara was cooking up the last of the food in a stew for lunch, while Sokka remained appalled at the lack of meat. You laughed at the bickering siblings before Katara’s attention was on you. 

“I see you got Toph up, but where is Zuko?” You froze, you hadn’t come up with an excuse. You sighed, “I dunno he just seemed really tired, I didn’t want to wake him.” Toph gasped, “Oh so when fancy fire boy is tired you let him sleep, but when I’m sleeping you have to wrestle me awake??” Katara raised a hand and you high-fived her, Toph exclaiming at the action. 

“Well, Zuko doesn’t normally sleep until the early afternoon and actually helps us out. Speaking of which, why don’t you go to the market to stock up on the food?” Katara sassed the girl while she made the stew but immediately regretted her decision when Toph smiled devilishly. 

Looking around quickly, she locked eyes with you and you sighed at the unsaid question, “I’ll go with her.” Katara sighed in relief while Toph groaned, making the water bender speak up, “Well maybe if you hadn't bought only cauliflower when we sent you alone last time, then maybe you could’ve gone by yourself. Toph snickered at the memory, “I thought it felt like broccoli, but the fact it was cauliflower was even better.” You laughed with the rest of the group, even Katara giving in before you started eating. 

\---

You and Toph had already gathered all the food that you thought you would need for the next week. The two of you being the least recognizable out of the group really helped with the process of, I don’t know, not getting arrested? The two of you walked together now as you headed back to the home. 

“Why do you sleep so late?”

Toph shrugged, “I guess I’m used to staying up late because the tournaments I was in were always like past midnight.” You nodded, it made sense after all. “My mom would always wake me up, I’d get like four hours of sleep a night when I lived at home.” You were shocked at the information, “Only four?? Why did you even do it?” Toph smiled, “‘Cause I love destroying all those earth bender wannabes!” She punched her fists together in an exaggerated manner, and you huffed a laugh at her response. 

Realizing her words from before, “OOh that’s why you called me mom when I woke you up! I thought you were just making fun of me.” She squinted ahead, “how would that be making fun of you?” You shrugged, “I dunno, you call me doc all the time too.” 

“You literally heal people.” 

“...good point, nevermind.”

Toph laughed at you a little before getting quiet, “It’s kind of weird that I miss them when I was the one who left in the first place.” You peered over to the girl as you two walked, her gaze was toward the ground, even though you know it wasn’t for any reason. You gripped her shoulder, “Nah, it’s not.” 

“How would you know?” she responded, but more spurious than anything.

You smiled at her, “well, I had to leave mine too.” She was surprised at the comment. You dropped your hand off her shoulder as you looked ahead. “I didn’t want to, and I never told them goodbye. I had to though, it was the only choice.” You turned to face her and even though she couldn’t see your face you smiled, “but now I’m here with you guys, and you are all like my family.” Her hand found yours, squeezing it harder than normal, but still gripping pretty hard. 

You squeezed back as you broke through the trees leading to the courtyard of the summer home. “Do you still miss them, even with us around?” You faced her once again, “of course, every day. Just because you’re my new family, it doesn’t replace the one I had. It just makes me feel the same happiness I did with them.” She seemed to be thinking as you started through the courtyard and stopped in your tracks. Toph got pulled back by your connected hands, “What’s happening, why did you stop?”

In front of you were the boys. Zuko squatting down, a string fire in his cupped hands. Aang was bending a bubble of water above the fire, a single carrot sat inside of it. Steam rose from the boiling water, and Sokka stared at it with a smile. 

“What the hell are you three doing?” 

Zuko’s flame went out instantly at your voice, and turned around before smiling a small smile and quickly walking up to you, “(Y/N), you’re back,” he reached to take some of the food from you to lighten your load. 

“‘Oh Toph I’m so glad to see you, it’s been so long. Here let me help you with that food!’ Oh, thanks, Zuko! ‘No problem Toph!’” Toph said to herself as she walked away to put the food down. You walked up to Aang who was still bending the water, Sokka now appeared with a plate of some sort. The literal avatar focused himself very seriously into lowering the carrot onto the plate, and then bending the now-not-boiling water away, leaving the carrot on the plate. 

Both boys seemed very happy at the sight, and when you looked up at Zuko he turned to face you too and just shrugged, no help to figure this all out. Sokka looked up and finally noticed that you were back. Running over to you he held the carrot out to you and smiled, “After you did the boiling water bending at the boiling rock, I kept thinking about how we could use that to cook! We’ll never need a pot again!”

You deadpanned over to Aang who seemed equally as excited as Sokka before looking back up at the water tribe boy. “...Have you been doing this all morning?” You sighed thinking you already knew the answer. Sokka gasped and pulled the carrot away from you, “you know I thought you’d appreciate this more, I used your bending and everything.”

You watched Sokka walk away haughtily, and you and Zuko looked back at each other and after a moment of silence, fell into laughter. 

\---

“You know if you had woken up before dinner you wouldn’t be this hungry,” You watched as Zuko went for thirds at the campfire dinner that you and Toph had prepared. Zuko looked at you with his mouth full, "well someone could have easily woken me up you know."

You laughed and just continued to eat when Katara spoke up, “Yeah you really should’ve woken him up earlier, he was hysterical while you were gone.”

You looked surprised at the words, "What do you mean?"

You watched Katara look at Zuko and followed her eyes yourself finding the boy trying to hide his face by continuously eating. You could still see the heat rise to his face. Interesting.

Katara smiled in a devilish way, "well for starters he came running out of the house and tripped and fell down the stairs." You looked over to the front of the house, "there are only like two stairs though."

"Exactly," Katara nodded, "and he literally would not stop yelling your name and looking around for you. I swear he looked in the ocean at one point." Zuko decided to defend himself, “hey she’s a water bender, she could’ve been in there.” Everyone silently looked at him and the boy went back to eating, grumbling the way through. 

Katara started back up, “I had to corral him and explain you were at the market. Then he just sat in the middle of the courtyard and stared for like a full ten minutes.” You looked over at Zuko who just looked away and you laughed, “well I'm glad you're doing okay now.” With no response, the group just laughed and went on with their meals. 

Finishing up, you all began to clean the area, about to put out the fire. “Wow, you know I always thought that the fire nation’s smog blocked out the stars.” The seven of you looked up to see a galaxy of stars spanning the sky above you. You smiled as you remember the times you had looked up to the skies as a kid, “yeah, they’re still beautiful, but not nearly as clear as they were before.”

When you dropped your gaze from the stars you were surprised to see everyone staring at you. Confused you thought back to what you said and realized they must be waiting for some kind of follow up there. You smiled and looked back up at the stars as you spoke, “haha sorry, my family and I used to go on trips into the fire nation to see my father’s family. We didn’t have as big a summer home as the fire lord but we had a place to stay where we could see the stars just like this."

Sokka interrupted you, "why did you travel to the fire nation? I thought you were from the Northern Water Tribe?"

"Oh well my mom was water tribe, but my dad was from the fire nation."

"What??"

You looked away from the sky, surprised by their responses, “did I never tell you that?”

Everyone shook their heads, Zuko especially surprised, “Fire nation and water tribe marriages are unheard of! How did that even happen??” You smiled, “well it was hard for them, but they made do. I actually grew up in the Northern Water Tribe, but when tensions grew from the war, we had to move out because they saw my father as a threat to the tribe. You know that’s actually one of the reasons that I broke into The Boiling Rock.” 

Trying to just end the conversation you looked back up at the sky, but the silence told you that the group was waiting for the rest of the story. You sighed, “well keep the fire lit if you want me to keep talking, because it’s getting cold.” Zuko who was sitting next to you sooted a little closer to you, unexpected by you. Trying to not get flustered by the close capacity you cleared your throat and started your story.

“Well the fire nation and the water tribe never liked the idea of my parents together, but they did truly love each other, so for many years, the water tribe let my parents live in the walls. The fire nation refused, and you can tell why now, but at the time it was confusing.” You sighed, “They had to travel back and forth between the two nations, but when they had me they mostly stayed with the tribe because of my bending. However, as the war grew closer and closer, the water tribe began to question my father’s motives for marrying my mother.”

You heard chewing, looking over you found Sokka in extreme focus, munching on some berries you had gotten at the market. “Don’t eat all of those, I want some.” 

“Anyway, we got kicked out and had to live in between the two nations in order to see family easily. I grew up on the outskirts of the earth kingdom with my parents for many years, and that's where my mother taught me my defensive skills.” You laughed at the memory, “my dad tried to teach me to fight but I always cried when I hit him too hard, fire bending doesn’t always translate to water bending so well.”

“As I grew older, the war had started and the avatar was missing.” Aang looked down for a minute but when he looked back up, you smiled at him, trying to let him know that it wasn’t his fault. “We heard word from many messengers as we were in the crossroads of the two nations, and one day, the message was about an attack on the Northern Water Tribe.”

“My father and mother feared for the safety of my mother’s side of the family and decided to go back to the tribe and help protect them. That was probably the decision that caught us up in everything. When we arrived, the attack had already begun and my father was mistaken for a fire nation soldier. When he refused to attack the tribe they took him, prisoner, as a traitor, and they caught my mom’s brother as a prisoner as well.”

You stretched and waved your hands around, “That’s why I went to The Boiling Rock. My mother stayed with my family in the tribe, but I escaped and ran back to my home in the earth kingdom. There I gathered my earth bender friends and ran to save my father. By the time they had dug the tunnels and I had figured out how to cross the river without being seen, they had already drained my father and uncle of any hope they had, my uncle was the worse of the two.”

Zuko spoke up, “Wait, so you’re telling me that you as a TEENAGER, managed to bypass the soldiers of the highest guarded prison in the fire nation in a few hours.” You looked at him in a sweet way, confused at the question, “...uh yeah.” Zuko just looked down at his hands in awe. Looking away from him you continued.

“I managed to get my father and uncle out of the prison, but one of the prisoners tipped off the guards and they were chasing us through the tunnel of boiling water.” You looked into the sky and scrunched our eyebrows before sighing, “my uncle had been really drained you know, he didn’t bounce back like my father did. The only way to stop the soldiers was to cut them off in the bubble, and so he did. But he had to cut himself off too.”  
The silence was still in the night, no one dared to comment. You stared up at the sky hoping the position would stop any tears from forming at the memory. You were surprised to feel a hand slide into your own, and looked over to see Zuko looking at you with concern. You smiled at him and tried to continue the story.

“The fire nation wouldn’t dare disrupt their reputation at the prison, so you won’t even see the record of my father or uncle being in The Boiling Rock. But shit if they didn’t chase us down. My father and I ran for a long time, eventually ending up back with my mother. News spread and some wanted posters started popping up. Of me.” 

“Why of you? They didn’t even know who you were?” Toph spoke up for the first time during the story and you shrugged at her question, before answering verbally, “my father chalked it up to being the fact that I was able to infiltrate and escape the prison, and they were afraid I’d share the information.”

“The water tribe wanted me gone, they thought that I was a target on their back. My parents argued back and were going to risk leaving and getting caught up with the war. So in the middle of the night I snuck out of the house alone and, I left.”

“...with no goodbye,” Toph spoke to herself. You sighed, “yep. That was the last time I saw my parents, and now, I’m here.”

You lifted your gaze from the fire in front of you and saw everyone’s gaze. Sokka and Katara seemed to have tears in their eyes, Suki was simply smiling in a comforting way. Toph and Aang seemed to be thinking really hard, you’d have to ask them later.

When you looked over at Zuko he was staring at you in a way that you weren’t quite familiar with, and you looked up at him and smiled a little, “Hey guys, it’s okay, we’ve all gone through stuff. This is just my… stuff.” You smiled at everyone and waved your hands in front of you, “it’s getting late let’s head to bed.” Everyone seemed to agree, the fire got put out and you all scattered in the courtyard. 

Everyone, sans Zuko who stood to the side, gathered around you before you broke away and gave you a nice group hug that you couldn’t help but laugh at. Toph lingered a minute longer and you gave her a minute and wrapped your arms around her tightly. Without a word she broke away and walked toward her room. You watched her walk away with a small smile on your face. 

You turned back to Zuko who you could only see now in the moonlight, making his hair look cooler and almost blue. When you reached him, you two silently walked together and toward your rooms. When you reached his, you smiled, “Goodnight Zuko,” and began to walk away but was stopped by a hand on your shoulder. 

Turning to face the fire bender you looked at him confused, “...you okay?” Zuko almost laughed at the question, “Are YOU okay? I mean are you going to be okay tonight?” You looked up at him, resting one of your hands on his.

You wanted to lie, you wanted to say you’d be fine, but you knew you weren’t going to be. Maybe you wouldn’t sleep tonight or maybe nightmares would keep waking you up, but you knew you’d see the image of your uncle’s sacrifice over and over. 

“...no.”

Without question, the boy pulled you closer, and while you didn’t cry you felt the comfort that it brought on your tense form. “Come on,” Zuko pulled you into his room and gave you the clothes that you had left there this morning. With him turned to face the wall you changed, and then got into the bed. Zuko had no hesitation when he climbed into bed to pull you close.

“You know you’re actually pretty nice Zuko,” you looked at him with one eye, the other covered by the pillow you were laying on. Zuko looked at you surprised, as if he’d never heard that before, but watched as you reached out and grazed over his scar. “You care more than you think.”

You smiled at him and gave a soft goodnight, before falling asleep in his arms again. Zuko stayed up a little longer, and in the least creepy way, he just watched you fall asleep. The way your face relaxed and all the stress that you had absorbed while you told your story vanished. It was nice to see you like this.

Zuko gave you another look over before closing his eyes and falling into good dreams, especially with you by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started outlining my chapters, and for some reason that makes them longer so I'm sorry for the wait but this is a long chapter!  
> Let me know if this chapter size is ok or if you'd like me to split them into two different chapters in the future!
> 
> Also, I love all your comments!! I never thought you guys would like it this much and it makes me so happy to see all the comments and Kudos! Thank you!! :))


	17. The Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ember Island players are prefroming, and they may have sparked Zuko's curiosity.

Distant laughing woke you up, finding yourself alone in Zuko’s bed made you equally as confused in your groggy state. Your legs were achy from the walk to and from the market yesterday and you groaned as you tried to pull yourself out of bed. Ugh, why did rich people have such soft and luxurious beds? 

Eventually, you were able to stand and get ready for the day. You peered out of Zuko’s room and down the hallway, trying to be sneaky. It’s not even that you’re doing something wrong if anything it's good but the amount of effort that it would take to explain you and Zuko’s sleeping situations to the group wouldn’t be worth it. Seeing a clear hallway, you grabbed your clothes from yesterday and went to your own room to change. 

Now freshly dressed, you walked around the house and into the courtyard, finding evidence that you had definitely slept through breakfast. Everyone was huddled in the courtyard as Sokka presented a poster to them.

“...They’re awful! They butcher ‘Love Amongst Dragons’ every year.”

“Uhhh who?”

Everyone turned to see you standing behind Zuko, confused, and trying to read the poster in Sokka’s hands. “Well it’s good to see you’re finally awake, you missed training,” Katara greeted you. “Good morning to you as well,” You smiled at her and she laughed. Suddenly Sokka ran up to you, stopping before he stepped on the fire bender below him. 

“(Y/N) don’t you think we should go see this play?” Sokka pushed the poster in your face and you had to back up a little just to read it. 

“‘The Boy in the Iceberg’? Like, our boy in the iceberg?” you pointed at Aang laughing. Sokka nodded, yeah it’s a play about US! How could we not go see it??” You nodded and smiled, “This sounds amazing we have to!”

A cough was heard from below you, Sokka moved the poster out of the way to see Zuko below the two of you obviously annoyed at being ignored, “guys they’re so bad, it’s not going to be good.” You crouched down by him, seemingly startling the boy, “well even if it’s bad we can still laugh at it, ya know?”

Zuko still seemed unconvinced and you sighed, “come on, we need to have some fun!” You stared into his eyes with a big smile and the longer he looked the faster Zuko’s defense came down. 

“...Fine.”

You and Sokka whooped and went to go change to blend into the fire nation’s color scheme. Zuko sighed but watched you run away excited and smiled. Until he heard a certain earth bender whisper ‘whipped’ while passing him. 

\---

“It feels weird to wear so little clothes.” Katara shrugged at you, “I’m surprised you’re not used to it.” 

Your ‘fire nation’ disguise was similar to hers and Toph’s, a simple top that you made sure had straps at least and some baggy pants. The ensemble was really different from the water tribe outfits you had growing up, but the water tribe’s climate never really reached temperatures that compared to living next to a volcano. 

You were messing with your outfit while you all entered the theatre. “Well I think you look great,” Aang passed by you, his floppy hat bobbing while he walked, and smiled genuinely while he spoke. You smiled back and tried to stop messing with everything, “thanks Aang.” He nodded and then pulled forward, walking near Katara.

Walking up the stairs, you sat down in the front row of the seats, next to Toph. Zuko went to sit next to you but was blocked by Aang slyly sliding in next to you. The fire bender’s surprised face made you giggle and you covered your mouth, trying not to make the situation any more embarrassing. 

“I- um I was going to sit there,” Zuko pointed to was Aang was, but the boy was looking around the fire bender, presumably for a different water bender to sit next to. “Why? I’m pretty comfortable here,” Aang moved his eyes away from looking for Katara and onto Zuko who seemed pretty embarrassed at the question. You were trying not to die laughing. 

“...I don’t know, I just- It’s a-” Zuko’s makeshift explanation was again interrupted by the avatar who suddenly got up. “You know what, you’re right you should sit here! Bye!” The boy ran up the stairs and after Katara who had sat down in the second row next to her brother and Suki. You and Zuko watched him run to sit by her and then looked at each other and shook your heads.

Letting Zuko get settled, you turned to your right, “Will you even enjoy this?” Toph shrugged, “probably not but I can still listen, ya know?” You agreed before turning to the closed curtain as a person came out to introduce the show.

You felt small taps on your arm and turned to your left to see Zuko motioning for you to lean in. Leaning closer to him, he started whispering in your ear and you missed the first half of what he said due to the chills that were sent down your back at his breath hitting your ear, “... to think bad about me because of what they say in the play.” 

You were kind of surprised and leaned in to talk to him yourself, “Zuko, I’m not going to change how I think of you because of some play about your past. You should know that by now.” Zuko went to reply but the curtains began to open and the show had started. 

To say the least, the play had you dying. You were floored by the interpretation of Katara and Sokka in the beginning, and when you saw Aang’s face after he realized his actress was a girl, oh moon you wished you could get a painting of it. Although you found the play hysterical, you also were really taking it in. This was your friend’s adventure before they met you, and it was actually really interesting to see how it all happened, even if it was super dramatized and super funny. 

“Were you really like that?” you whispered to Zuko while stage Zuko yelled at his uncle for making tea in battle. “I’d like to say no but I’m not even sure anymore,” Zuko shrugged and you laughed again and leaned into him. Zuko was surprised at the contact but started smiling nonetheless, at least someone was enjoying the night. You started to dry the tears that were forming from the laughter when you picked back up on the play.

“There is a girl in that swamp! We have to get her out! Avatar Water Bending Powers go!” You jerked away from Zuko and leaned forward now solely focused on the play. Zuko jumped when you pulled away and followed your eyes to the act. 

On the stage, the actors were surrounding a green ball, assumingly supposed to be weeds and moss from a swamp. Blue ribbons made to look like water were being flown around, representing Aang using his water bending to move the plants. 

You were very confused and turned to Zuko, “I don’t even know how they know about this.” Zuko was confused too, what were you talking about? What happened in the swamp, is this… oh. He realized that this was the start of your story. 

The ball opened up and a bunch of smoke came up, unrealistically as there wasn’t any smoke involved. A silhouette of a well-formed woman was backlit in the smoke and as it cleared the whole gang gasped. 

You were naked.

Well, the girl playing you was practically naked, wearing what only looked like a seaweed bikini and an excessive amount of stage makeup. 

You gawked at the sight in front of you at the stage Katara helped you up and you joined them on their journey. Zuko, while embarrassed at the thought of you in what stage you were wearing, saw your face and instantly thought you were upset. You had covered your mouth and your shoulders started to shake, Zuko immediately reached out to pat you back, “hey don’t cry, it’s just a pla…” 

You shooed him off and continued to shake, Zuko got worried about taking you out of the room when he heard you laugh. You were laughing. Zuko sighed in relief and watched as tears flowed out of your eyes while you tried to keep yourself contained. “I,” you had to pause, continuing to laugh, “I’m in a haha grass bikini.” You laughed silently and you had to close your eyes and look away from the play, just to get control of yourself. 

You gave up and turned to Zuko, leaning into him to try and catch your breath again. Not surprised this time, the boy wrapped an arm around you and rubbed your back. Your laugh was contagious, Zuko found himself laughing more at you than the play, but you felt his chest rumble with his own suppressed laughter. He stopped rubbing your back and through your laughs, you looked up at the boy. Even with the extreme acting, Zuko didn’t look away once and just absorbed the scene. The stage you was spilling exposition about yourself, some true and some… not. But you found it curious that Zuko didn’t seem to be laughing… you’ll have to ask him later.

Eventually, you had calmed down, and leaned away just in time to see Toph’s reveal in the show and immediately went back to Zuko’s shoulder to cry and laugh again at full force. 

The play had calmed down a little, but suddenly you found stage Sokka and stage you alone in a scene. You were confused, not really knowing what was happening until some sweet romantic music started playing. You wide-eyed turned to Zuko who was watching the scene in equal confusion, but much more tense looking. You started watching the scene again and you could hear Toph laughing, despite not seeing the scene. 

“I can’t hide it anymore, I love you (Y/N)!” “Oh, I love you too Sokka!”

Toph busted out laughing and you had to restrain yourself from doing the same. The two actors on the scene began to kiss and at the same moment, you turned around in your chair to find Sokka behind you. The water tribe boy was also laughing but when he saw you turn he locked eyes with you. You immediately made kissy faces at him and tried to grab him from the lower seating. He tried to go along with it and made stupid faces at you too but alas you two could not reach each other. 

You laughed and gave up the act, falling back into your seat and giggling to yourself. You looked over at Zuko and found him looking at his fists, clenched on his lap, “hey, uh you okay?” Zuko released his fists and blinked, looking at you, “oh uh yeah, just thinking about my scar being on the wrong side.” You squinted at him but ignored it, “oh okay.”

The curtain fell and signaled for intermission, the group got up to stretch their legs and for Sokka to get snacks.

Zuko leaned against the wall and slid down, in an almost defeated way. Worried about the fire bender, you went and sat down next to him. “Are you really okay?” You leaned over to try and make eye contact with the boy. He sighed, “yeah it’s fine.” You knew something was up, but you decided he might not be ready to talk about it, “okay, well I’m always here.” He looked up and smiled at you before silence fell on you two. 

The others were scattered and talking amongst each other, so the two of you sat silently. Trying to break the awkward tension you spoke up, “you know, they forgot the part where I knocked Sokka out when they woke me up.” Zuko turned to face you surprised, “You knocked him out?” You smiled and shrugged, “What can I say, I am so unbelievably strong.”

Zuko laughed low at your comment and you smiled while he did, taking in his smile yourself. He grew silent though, “I guess I never learned how they found you.” You scooted closer to the fire bender, “Well…, do you want to?” 

Surprised, Zuko raised his head a little more, “you’d just tell me?” 

You laughed, “well it’s not like it’s a secret, I guess you’ve just never asked.”

Zuko rubbed his face with his hands. All this dancing around the topic and trying to piece it together and he could’ve just asked. He turned to you, “can I ask?”

“No.”

“...”

“I’m just kidding, yes.” 

Sokka approached you two, “hey the intermission is almost over, let’s head in.” You looked up at him, “Oh thank you, love of my life, my dearest.” You laughed and reached up so he could pull you up. Sokka laughed at the nicknames too while he yanked you up so you were standing, “anything for you my precious honey.” He walked away while you calmed down from the joke and turned to Zuko. The fire bender was watching Sokka walk away, almost glaring at the water tribe boy as he disappeared behind the door to the theatre. 

You broke his focus and put your hand out to help him stand too, “what’s on your mind dude? You’ve been really weird since the play started…” He grabbed your hand and pulled himself up, but not releasing it when he was standing. 

“...You never like… dated Sokka right?” He wasn’t looking at your eyes, and instead chose to look at your intertwined hands, his eyebrows were scrunched in thought. You couldn’t help but laugh breaking the fire bender’s focus once again, heat rising to his face as he watched you laugh. 

“Absolutely not,” you shook your head and looked him in the eye, “I mean, come on Zuko.” He released your hand and brought it to his neck, embarrassingly grumbled, “I don’t know what happened before I joined you guys.” You laughed and ushered him into the theatre before the play started back up again.

“What, do you believe everything in this thing?” you joked, “do you think I came out of that ball naked??” Zuko thanked the sun that the theatre had gotten dark, knowing his face was red, “...were you?” You almost fell down the stairs at the comment, “No Zuko! Oh, my moon!” 

You two sat in your respective chairs, Zuko pouting and you laughing silently to yourself. This is gonna be a long play.

“Sokka what do you mean you want to… break up?” “I’m sorry (Y/N), but my heart belongs to… FOOD!” The theatre was filled with laughter, you included while the punchline was given. Stage you dramatically fell to the floor, “I’ll never love again!” You laughed again at the dramatic line and found it ridiculous. I mean, besides your friends and family, you hadn't even loved anyone until Zu-

You froze, your thoughts getting to you. You didn’t… did you? You slowly looked over at Zuko out of the corner of your eye, seeing him rest his face on his fist only huffing a laugh at the stupidest of jokes. You stared for a minute at the boy and thought about everything that has happened since you guys met. I mean you liked him, that’s for sure, you felt like he was one of your best friends already. And he was so pretty, and he liked your jokes and... But he’s a prince! Well, an ex-prince but still was once a prince! He would have way better options…

Zuko zoned out of the play, not really interested in seeing his stage self insult his uncle anymore. He gave you another glance, the fire bender really couldn’t get enough of you just laughing, but he was startled. You seemed to have a whole mood change, your face slack, and looking vaguely in his direction but clearly zoned out yourself. 

But you looked kinda sad.

He reached out to you a little and whispered, “...hey are you-” You jumped back immediately, your face grew red enough that he could see it even in the darkness of the theatre. Your eyes scanned his face, from his eyes to his lips and nose and back up to his eyes. Zuko looked concerned as your eyes flew back and forth, and went to continue to reach for your hand. 

He gave it a squeeze and it seemed to pull you out of your state, and you looked at him with a small smile before you squeezed his hand back. Keeping your hands together, you faced the stage again, your mind much clearer. Zuko watched you for a minute, still concerned, but once you giggled at another scene of the play, he smiled.

‘I wonder if she would give me a chance,’ he thought to himself.

‘Maybe he would give me a chance,’ you pondered at the same time. 

The curtains closed after showing the defeat of the avatar by the hands of the fire nation. All of the gang had a weird feeling about that ending but left making jokes about the play as you all walked back to the house. 

You and Zuko hadn’t let go of each other’s hands since your moment back at the theatre. Not that either one of you was complaining, but Zuko did find himself worrying that his palms were too sweaty. 

Sokka passed by you two with Suki under his arm and gave you both a small smirk. Embarrassed, you still didn't let Zuko go but gave the boomerang boy a face, “Oh Sokka, I can’t believe you moved on so fast, I thought you didn’t have any room in your heart for anything but food!” You laughed when he stuck his tongue out at you while Suki laughed to the side of him. 

You even heard Zuko chuckle under his breath, and you looked up at him as you all made it into the courtyard of the summer home. You smiled up at him and he looked away, not liking getting caught laughing, of course making you laugh. 

The others walked in front of you and entered the home, but you stopped by the fountain in the courtyard, effectively stopping Zuko as well. He turned to face you, “Are you okay? What’s up?” You smiled at him, “You still wanna hear how the group found me?” Zuko was surprised, he kind of forgot he even asked, “Abso- ahem… yes,” he glanced away from you before looking back at you, “please.” 

You had to cover your mouth with your free hand to keep from laughing, “well, don’t get too excited, I don’t know if the real story will do the play justice.” Zuko scoffed at you as you laughed lightly at the joke. You didn’t say anything as you pulled him gently to the beach, deciding that the scenery would be nice. 

You two sat on the sand, watching the way the moon hit the water turning everything into shades of blue. Zuko became distracted by the way the waves reflected in your eyes but pulled himself away when you started talking.

“Ready prince-y?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad everyone's digging the longer chapters! It kinda makes it easier to get a whole part down :) Hopefully, they will continue like this but I can't promise anything because I am wildly unpredictable even to myself haha. 
> 
> Also THANK YOU GUYS!! The comments on these past chapters have been amazing and have really made me want to get each chapter finished! I replied to a comment with this but I am a visual artist and I have never really been confident in my writing like ever! I started this for laughs but each time y'all write what you liked about each chapter I get so happy to write the next one! 
> 
> ALSO ALSO Thank you for 300 Kudos!! I'm so excited to see when I get a comment or a new Kudos or Hit and it honestly makes me so happy reading them, I do read every comment, even if I don't reply trust me :) So here's to a new chapter :)


	18. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You tell Zuko about your past and how you ended up here

“You remember that the fire nation was tracking me?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, they found me.”

The wind whipped around your face, sweat pouring over your eyes, almost blocking your sight. Your back was growing sore from the constant pressure you had from bending your way across the water. You ran and blasted yourself forward on the water, running on ice when you started to grow tired. 

You wiped the sweat from your eyes and turned to see your pursuers. They rode on armored beasts, following on land and water with no hindrance. They had come across you laying low in an earth kingdom village, almost on the opposite side of the kingdom from your old home. You thought you’d be safe. 

“Give it a rest people,” you muttered under your breath, grimacing at the sight of the four soldiers on your tail. You turned to face in front of you again. ‘I’m not sure I can’t hold this speed much longer’ you felt your body falling numb from the constant strain. 

A wind hit your face from your right, and you stumbled with your bending. The wind passed over you and with your eyes closed, you felt a pull and changed your path drastically. When you opened your eyes, you saw a heavily wooded area far in front of you. Trees filled the sky and the water met their roots. You smiled, “finally.”

Without care of the strain in your bones, you used the rest of your remaining energy to blast yourself into the direction of the trees, the fire nation close behind. 

You reached the murky water and found yourself in a swamp. A heavy feeling fell around you as you entered to get out of the sight of the soldiers. You created a small wave, blocking the soldiers' sight of you. While they were distracted you felt yourself being pulled further into the swamp. You ran, into the trees and out of sight. 

Wading through the water you reached a wall of wood. The trunk appeared so wide and tall, and it hummed with energy. You looked up, resting your hand on the bark and falling to a trance. Everything was calm.

“If you give up now,” You broke from your trance at the woman’s voice behind you, “we won’t have to hurt you.” You looked down at the water beneath you, finding yourself surrounded by three fire nation soldiers, all ready to attack. You lifted your gaze to your hand, and sighed, “you realize that only, like, assholes say stuff like that.”

You froze your hand to the tree and bended the water away from your feet slowly, not allowing the soldiers to see. “Listen, kid, I’ve had enough running around trying to find some girl who thinks she knows better,” another soldier started speaking, lighting up one of his hands, “so just do the right thing and come with us.”

Silence fell over you and the three, the crackling of the fire in the soldiers' hands was all you could focus on. You focused on your hand, covered in ice, and waited for it. 

The sound of a soldier shifting in the water broke through and you were off.

You jumped up, your feet free from the water, and kicked up and behind yourself. Water flew out from around you, putting out the flames in the soldiers' hands and flushing them back. Using the ice around your hand, you blasted yourself back after melting it into the water and while you were mid-jump, you flew backs and past the soldiers. 

Fire flew around you and licked your skin as the soldiers tried to attack through the water. It flew past you as you jumped through the air, singing your clothes but not hot enough to burn. You landed in the center of where the soldiers stood and froze the water that surrounded them. 

You stood from your position, finding a fist in front of your eyes, and gasped. Taking another glance, the fist was frozen in ice. You spun around and found you had gotten them all, frozen in time and action. You smiled and jumped up, satisfied with your trap.

Just then you noticed the heavy feeling pull you down again. Turning back toward the tree, you saw a scorched portion on the bark, a fire still eating away at the bottom of the tree. “No!” You ran to it and immediately put out the fire, raising your hand to where it was before. Soot covered your hand, while you gazed at the damage. 

Without much thought, you brought your other hand up to rest beside the one, and bended water to cover the burn. You closed your eyes, your face scrunched in focus as you began to move around where you could reach. You weren’t even sure it would work. 

A blue light made you open your eyes, the glow from your hands repairing the scorch marks on the tree. The healing energy was nothing you’ve ever seen in your years of training. It was like the tree was aiding you as you helped it. 

The scorch marks disappeared, and all that was left was a few missing pieces of bark on the healthy wall of tree. You smiled up at the tree, the weight was pulled off your shoulders and now you felt more energized than moments before. 

You smiled and patted the tree, turning to finally get ahead of the soldiers while they awaited the warm hours of the day.

A dark blade slid into your chest as you spun around, your smile falling as you gasped. You followed the arm that held the dagger up to a chest, then a neck, and finally a face. The fourth fire nation soldier that had been following you, the forgotten man that cost you everything. 

It seemed like he knew it too. You felt the wound get heavy, and the clothes around it grow wet. The soldier, a boy, only a little older than yourself watched you as you looked directly into his eyes. He looked as surprised as you did to have a knife in you. “I-,” He started, his eyes darted from his hand to your face, realizing what he had done. 

You watched as he let go of the blade, you could only hold yourself up for a moment before you fell to your knees and then onto your back. The water of the swamp surrounded you and mixed in with the red on your clothes. 

The soldiers took a step back, about to run, even to leave his fellow soldiers behind in the ice. However, the water around him started to spin, the plants tangling his ankles and tripping him into the water. A bubble formed around him and cut off any supply of air around him. He clawed and scratched at the bubble around himself, and looked down at you, executing to see you bending his up. 

But you simply rested against the bottom of the tree, eyes drooped, the energy you were gifted had gone as well as most of your hope. With the last remaining energy you had, you raised your hand, cursing at the pain that it caused. You motioned with your hand, and the bubble dropped, the soldier effectively dropping as well. 

He coughed and wheezed, trying to get the water out of his lungs. When he turned back to face you again, you were limp. And like any coward, he ran.

You sat there, resting against the bottom of the tree trunk as you saw the world around you grow dark, and felt your last breath leave you.

“You died???” You looked surprised over at the boy, as he brought you out of some sort of trance. He looked very alarmed, his eyes wide with emotion and his body turned to face you. You laughed, “well, I guess I might’ve but that doesn’t really explain why I’m here now.”

Zuko sighed, “please don’t laugh at the thought you might’ve died.” Despite his words, you laughed again, “sorry it’s just so weird to think about. Besides it’s not like I actually did.” Zuko sighed, “and you saved the man who STABBED you??” 

You looked away from him and sighed, “yeah. I couldn’t let him die, I don’t know what I was thinking at the moment.” Zuko looked shocked, “but you froze all the other soldiers! But you couldn’t drown the one that stabbed you? Why even create the bubble in the first place?” 

Surprised, you face him, “first off, the other soldiers would've been fine after the ice melted, and well, I didn’t create the bubble.” 

“You didn’t? Who did then?” 

You shrugged, “I think it was the swamp.”

“The swamp?”

“Uh, yeah.”

You shooed him for a moment, “I still have the part where Aang finds me, ya know.” Zuko almost responded but held himself back, knowing he really wanted to know how it all started. 

You gasped for breath, the darkness began to fade, one part at a time. All your senses came to you at the same time, the voices outside of your vision hit your ears as their muffled nature started fading with the dark around you. You opened your eyes, your limbs starting to gain feeling again as the voices grew louder.

“You don’t know what’s in there,” a female voice, “you shouldn’t mess with it.” “Yeah, Sokka,” another girl? Maybe a young boy, “we don’t have time to mess around like this.”  
“Guys come on,” you assumed this was ‘Sokka’, “maybe it’s a big fish or something we can actually eat other than bugs.”

Your vision had finally focused just in time to see a blade in between your eyes. You went immediately into defense mode, bending the water in the plants surrounding you straight in front of you. You blasted the plants into ‘Sokka’ and slammed him into a tree where he fell to the ground, knocked out. 

“SOKKA!” The girl yelled, watching the boy fly before turning to face you, arms ready to attack, the bald boy to your right watched as the situation unfolded. 

You coughed before scruffily speaking, “where are the soldiers?” The boy looked confused, “what soldiers?” You looked surprised at him, lowering your guard, “...the fire nation soldiers? Aren’t you with them?” 

The girl responded this time, “I don’t know what kind of trick the fire nation thinks they’re getting away with here, but it’s not working.” She squinted at you in focus, as you waved your hands around. “No no! I’m not from the fire nation! One of those assholes just stabbed me!” The girl looked you up and down before scoffing, “you don’t have a scratch on you.” 

“What’re you-” You looked down to where your stab wound was, finding nothing there, no blood or scar, just a tear in your shirt, “wha- what’s going on.” The girl then bended water above her, ready for the attack, “that’s what we’re asking you!” 

You raised your hands, “wait look!” You bended the murky water around you, dancing it around your body and flowed it around yourself before you let it drop, “I’m a water bender!” \

Surprised, the girl released the water and looked at the bald boy who just smiled at you, “Well I’m Aang, and this is Katara,” he pointed over to the boy you had launched, “and that’s her brother Sokka.” You shyly rubbed your neck, “sorry about that.” 

Katara looked at her brother, and sighed, “he probably deserved it anyway.” You laughed at the comment but then turned to the girl, “Why are you guys running from the fire nation too?” She looked at Aang who just shrugged, “...why- it’s because he’s the Avatar.”

You turned to face the boy in surprise, he got shy at your face, “you’re the avatar! But you’re so young!” Aang sighed, “well I was trapp-” “You should at least be in your twenties right? And where have you been?!”

The two conscious people of the group looked at each other at the comment, “...twenties? He should be in his hundred and tens!” Katara looked you up and down, “when did Avatar Roku die?” At their reaction, you had already doubted yourself with anything you said but you still responded, “...about twenty-eight years ago.”

Aang looked surprised but looked at the surrounding area and the plants that were once surrounding you, “...you were in there for… years.” You looked around you, surveying the style of Katara’s clothes, noticing that they were decorated differently from the water tribes you’ve ever seen. “I’ve been in there… for years? F-for how long??” 

Aang saw the fear on your face, and tried to lay it out lightly, “I think you’ve been in there for eighty years.”  
“...you’re eighty years old,” Zuko spoke to you but looked down at the sand, and you sighed. “I’m actually ninety-six,” you looked up at the moon glowing above you, “but I’d like to think I’m still just sixteen, ya know.”

“Eighty years,” Zuko mumbled to himself before having a realization, “but your family, your friends?”

You just kept looking up at the moon, and smiled a little smile but didn’t feel like it was real at all, “they’re gone.”

You close your eyes and cover your face, “well, I think they are. There isn’t any way that they could be around you know.” You felt your eyes burn, “the worst part is I haven’t even had time to look,” you could feel your happy facade fall, “I just gave up without trying.”

You felt a hand on your back, rubbing back and forth. You leaned into the boy, hoping that it would stop a total breakdown. You two sat like that for a few minutes before Zuko broke the silence, “...you’re bending the ocean.”

Surprised you lifted your head and shifted away from the boy, The ocean before you was full, the beach completely swallowed by the water. You two were sitting in about two inches of water that you didn't notice before. You released the water and tried to bend what had soaked into your outfits out of them.

You laughed while you rubbed your face and any tears that might have been there, “I haven’t done that since…” you remembered the last time in the lake that you had bended yourself up, thinking about Zuko, “uh for a while.”

Zuko didn’t mention it but instead continued to comfort you, “You know, when this is all over, we can search for them.” You turned to face him and smiled, “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t-” He stopped you, “don’t give up yet.”

You stared at him and watched his hair shuffle over his face in the wind of the night. He smiled slightly at you too. You laughed a little, “you know, you really are something special Zuko.” 

The boy barely absorbed the compliment before you leaned in and grabbed his face. Suddenly Zuko found himself in slow motion, as you leaned forward and tilted his face. Some unexplained force drew him to tilt his head back at the last moment, sure that you could feel his flush from the fingers that rested on his cheeks.

Your lips met the corner of his, for a split second that Zuko wishes would have lasted forever. You jumped back at the feeling of even the small side of his lips, surprised. “I was- I, your cheek… I’m,” you scooted away from the stunned fire bender that just stared while you stuttered and backed away. You began laughing awkwardly, trying to edge yourself out of the conversation, “haha well that could’ve gone better… NOT that I meant it was bad it was great! You were great! Hahaha….” you had almost reached the edge of the beach. 

You two stared at each other again, faces both red and flustered, one saying way too much and the other saying nothing at all. You shrugged really fast and spoke even faster, “Alright well I have to go, sleep calls ya know! Haha… goodnight Zuko.” You muttered as you went to run away from the situation. You managed to catch part of your shoe on the step up to the courtyard and proceeded to eat shit while managing your escape. 

Zuko sprang up at your fall, instantly trying to help but you rose a hand and groaned on the ground. “I’m good, I’m okay!” You stood and looked at him for a second before you waved, “Uhh bye.” And you ran off.

Zuko stared as you ran off, nothing being said, before flopping back down into the sand and staring up at the moon. He sat there for a while with his hand raised up to the side of his lips where he could feel the soft nature of your lips linger. 

Yeah, he's just gonna sit here for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry you guys I've been dealing with allergies so I hope this isn't delusional writing!
> 
> Also Kiss time ;)
> 
> This is shorter in comparison to the last chapters, but as it gets closer to the end the chapters should be longer! Or at least that's my plan :)


	19. The Market

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Zuko get sent to the market and into some shenanigans

“Did you guys get rice?”

You looked up at Katara from your position on the ground, relaxing from your stretching that you had decided to do this morning. Sitting back, you supported yourself with your arms and squinted in thought for a moment, “uh, I’m pretty sure Toph grabbed some?” Turning in the direction of the earth bender across the courtyard, you yelled, “hey Toph!” 

“Yeah, doc?” She approached the two of you and you smiled, “you got rice at the market right?” 

“I thought you got the rice.”

Taking in her words, you turned and looked up at Katara with a guilty face, “uh… no.” Katara sighed but still laughed a little at the two of you, “well we need to grab some, I’m surprised with how much we eat you didn’t grab any.”

Toph shrugged in indifference and walked away, continuing to practice her metal bending over by the forest that hugged the property. While Toph left without a care, you still felt bad about the mix-up, and stood up, dusting yourself off. “Hey, I’m sorry, I’ll run back to town and grab some myself!” You sheepishly stood in front of the water bender, but she sighed. 

“I’d say ‘go for it’ but with the intensity that the war is at right now, you need someone to go with you,” she thought for a moment before smiling widely, “Zuko?” 

Now, you and Zuko were totally fine, even after your accident the other night. It’s just that you’ve become more aware of how close Zuko stands to you and how he looks in the sunlight and the smell that comes off him when he brushes by you and… okay well just all of him. You don’t really know what happened but that kiss must’ve broken some kind of dam in your mind because you’re going insane. Or at least you think so. And meanwhile, Zuko can’t seem to not be near you since the incident. So you can see the trouble that it’s causing in the nice little Avatar Family. 

“What about Zuko?” The said boy mumbled and you craned your head past Katara to see the fire bender walking up to you two. You could feel your face flush a little and smile, “hahaha nothing! Katara and I were just talking about going to the market to get some… tuko!”

“Tuko?” You nodded furiously while Katara dragged her hand over her face and sighed, “Yeah! It’s an ancient, uh, fruit! But they just found out how to grow them! Haha, so Katara and I will go and… get it.” You smiled up at him in a way that Zuko didn’t even question your weird ways. “Oh, okay.” 

“I’ve never heard of tuko…” Aang suddenly appeared out of nowhere, just in time to stab a knife in your lie. You grew nervous, “Oh, uh, special water tribe fruit Yep! Come on Katara!” You tried to get out of there and grabbed Katara’s hand and tried to run away. It took you a minute to realize that you weren’t actually moving, but just running in one spot while Katara held you easily back. 

In an acting voice, Katara spoke up, “Oh but (Y/N)! I don’t want to go to the market, I have sooo much to do around here!” You stopped your running, leaving a bit of a divot in the ground under your feet and turned to face the girl with the most betrayed face you could muster.

But then you remembered something and smiled at her, “oh but Katara, this might be the last time we need to go to the market! And you told me that there were sooo many cute boys that hung around there! This could be our last chance!” You smiled devilishly at the water bender, but it dropped when the same smile showed up on her face too. 

You looked at the other boys, confused, but quickly figured out why the water bender was so happy. Zuko stood there surprised but with his eyebrows furrowed, and Aang looked almost exactly the same. 

“Wha- Uh actually I think Katara and I have to train today! Sorry (Y/N)!” You looked at Aang with a defeated look while Katara nodded and walked off with the avatar, “have fun with all those ‘cute boys’ (Y/N)! More for you!” Your jaw dropped at the girl as she walked to the area at the summer home that everyone had started using to train.

You sighed as the two disappeared from sight when Zuko cleared his throat, “uh, maybe I should go with you,” you looked up at him with a dead face, “you know, to just help out.” You groaned a little, you know when you’ve lost a battle, “yeah yeah, let me get dressed.” 

Zuko smiled a little as you trudged to your room to put on the fire nation ensemble to blend in. Zuko just sat there and planned how he was going to make sure no ‘cute boys’ were lurking around. 

\---  
‘I’m going to get that girl when I get back…’ You slumped alongside Zuko who was vastly unaware of your mood, too focused on the people around you. You sighed, righting yourself to stand beside him, “I’m sorry that you had to come along, I mean it was my fault we didn’t have rice.” Zuko shrugged, “I wanted to come, plus I want to grab something while we’re here anyway.” 

You smiled a little to yourself, no matter how awkward you were being, Zuko always managed to make you feel like less of a burden. Also it seems like he must’ve forgotten all about ‘Tuko’ so that was in your favor too. You know what, you’re not going to be pouty and a bummer this whole time, I mean if Katara was going to send you away, might as well make the most of it!

You smiled up at Zuko, “Hey, do you wanna make a little day of this? We can get something to eat and look around if you want?” 

“I don’t know, Aang needs to train, and,” he looked down at your face and paused, “...sure.” You shook your head, “it’s okay if you can’t, I’m not going to make you walk around with me-” 

“I want to.” The boy cut you off and looked away from you, not changing his mind. You were surprised at the tone, but you just smiled and nodded, continuing your way to the market. 

In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the fire nation, the two of you probably weren’t a strange sight but just being in enemy territory kept you a little on edge. 

You craned your neck to look over the crowd, trying to find a stand that sold rice, and spotted a place with multiple bags and barrels. You smiled and got off your tiptoes and started to head over the stand, grabbing Zuko’s hand in order to keep him with you as you made your way through the dense crowd. A few steps in, you got pushed back and into Zuko by a passing kid, probably not that much younger than yourself, or I guess a lot younger than yourself depending if those eighty years in the plant-y abyss counts.

“Ah, I’m so sorry miss-” The kid actually looked at your face and suddenly had more to say, “I didn’t mean to run into someone so pretty as you.” You blushed a little but waved him off, “It’s really okay, no harm done.” You smiled at the boy and he looked like he was going to continue talking until it looked up and past your face, his own smile falling, “Uh, yeah! Okay goodbye!” 

You watched him walk a couple of tense steps before he picked up some speed. Surprised by his quick goodbye, and went to breathe in your hand, smelling to see if your breath was bad or something. When you deemed yourself smelling good you looked up at Zuko, “what do you think that was about?” Zuko was looking to where the boy had run off to, a firm look on his face, “dunno, just some idiot.” You shrugged and grabbed his hand again, “You know you’re not going to win people over by calling them idiots,” you continued your way to the stand. “Well, I don’t want to win over that guy anyway.”

You laughed a little and reached an area where the crowd wasn’t so heavy. “Why don’t you go grab what you need and I’ll get the rice? I’m pretty hungry,” your stomach rumbled with impeccable time and you laughed, “as you can hear.” Zuko seemed conflicted, looking at you and then over your head where the guy had gone but was clearly out of sight at this point. 

“I dunno, maybe I should stick around,” he said uncertainly. You scoffed, “It’s not like I’ve never been in a fire nation market before, I’ll be fine! If anything I’d be worried about you being around all these people that might recognize you. Maybe if we are split up you’ll be less noticeable.” Zuko was still reluctant but you just giggled and shoved him in the way of the other stalls, where he got pulled into the crowd and away further into the market, “just meet me back here!” 

You shook your head at his worry and turned to the rice stand, smiling. 

\---

You were waiting on the fire bender to return, your bag now full of a good bit of rice. You groaned at the weight, however, maybe you should start lifting weights…. Or maybe go swimming more… just something. You sighed again while you zoned out listening to the fire nation crowd talk and bargain with one another.

Suddenly you felt a tap on your shoulder, assuming it was Zuko you had turned to the person with a big smile, “find what you… oh hello.” It was not Zuko, although you would be lying if you said he didn’t look unnaturally similar to your favorite fire bender, sans the traumatic scar. You blinked and rubbed your eyes for a second, confusion showing, while he started talking. 

“I’m sorry to catch you off guard! I saw you over here and it looked like you’re having trouble with that,” the Zuko impersonator pointed at your rice-filled bag, “do you need some help?” You blinked a couple times just trying to process the situation, the boy just shifted his weight and smiled at you, clearly just trying to be nice. 

You shook yourself out of your confusion and awkwardly laughed, “sorry, I just, you look kinda like my friend! I just, uh… oh! I don’t need any help, but thank you! I’m actually waiting for him!” The boy was a little taken back by your rush of words, but after he processed them all he smiled genuinely again. “Alright! I was just checking,” he laughed and you giggled a little along with him, “as for your friend, I hope for my sake he’s good looking.”

“I’d like to think so.” 

You whipped your head to the voice that had come from directly behind you. Zuko hovered over you, but his gaze passed over you and onto the man in front of him. “Oh hey you’re back, did you find what you needed?” you had to stretch to look up at him from your position with how close he was standing behind you. 

Zuko nodded, not breaking eye contact with the guy in front of him, “yeah, so we should get going.” He snaked his hand into yours and started walking across the crowd and toward a restaurant on the other side of the road. Surprised you turned to face the guy who had tried to help you and waved goodbye, “bye! Thanks for asking!” The man just stood there, confusion written on his face as he watched you get dragged away by your friend. 

When you made it in front of the restaurant Zuko hadn’t released your hand but instead just looked down at you when you laughed, “you must’ve got hungry while you were out, come on let’s go in.” Zuko was surprised by your assumption, knowing you were very wrong but just sighed, “alright.” The two of you entered through the door, missing a bold sign hung on the side of the shop that was decorated with hearts and smiles. 

An older woman greeted you as she stood at a podium in the front of the store, “Ah, welcome you two! I assume you’d like our special booth?” Confused you looked up at Zuko who did the same but shrugged. You did as well and decided, why not, and nodded at the woman.

She smiled largely, almost visibly excited that you agreed and waved the two of you to follow her over to a small two person booth that sat in a corner of the restaurant. She smiled and sat you at the booth, allowing you two to shimmy into the seats before shuffling away. You looked across the table at Zuko who looked equally as confused as you. You began to laugh at the weird circumstance, Zuko just watching you fondly. 

“Well that was weird, I wonder what’s so special about this booth, rather than the fact it’s so small,” you patted the seats to put more emphasis on the size, before looking at the table. “Did she forget to give us menus?” Zuko seemed to just realize this too and looked around at the other patrons. A group of girls that were recently sat were looking at papers, trying to decide what to eat, “I guess so.”

“I’ll ask her for one when she gets back from the kitchen I guess,” you were confused but honestly weren’t angry, everyone makes mistakes and plus she is an adorable old lady. 

“...So who was that guy outside?” Zuko looked up at you but when you followed suit he started looking around, avoiding your eyes. You thought for a second, the last couple of minutes had been such a flurry, “Oh! I don’t know, he just offered to help me carry my rice back,” you shrugged, “I obviously told him I was all good, I dunno how good of an idea it would be to bring a guy back to the house when we have the literal avatar hanging around.” Zuko seemed to be zoned out a little but still nodded in agreement, but you remembered a little detail, “hey didn’t you think he looked like you?? That was crazy.”

You thought he looked like me? Why?” 

You squinted at him, “what do you mean why, he literally looked exactly like you, just no scar.” Zuko looked surprised and raised his hand up to his scar, suddenly remembering the dream he had at the beach that one day. The image of him looking in that mirror and seeing himself without the scar that marked his face was so foreign, he never really thought about it after he woke up. Then he looked up at you, who seemed to be thinking about it yourself. Were you thinking about that guy? Would you prefer him because of his unmarked face? You probably did-

“You know, now that I think about it, you’re a lot more handsome than him.”

Zuko shot out of his thoughts, whiplash from the information running through his head, “wha- really?” You looked at him, and suddenly realized what you said. A little embarrassed, your shyly smiled at the fire bender, “I mean yeah, I think so. I didn’t get a great look at him but I think you look cuter than him.”

New thoughts flooded Zuko’s head, and you grew worried you said something wrong as you watched him zone out with a flush growing on his cheeks. The older woman suddenly came around from the kitchen, and you’ve never been more thankful for an interruption in your life. 

“Hi! I think you forgot to-” Two plates and drinks were put down in front of you, “Oh I’m sorry but we didn’t order this.” The older lady looked surprised, “Oh have you two never sat here before?” The two of you looked at each other for a second before turning to the lady and shaking your heads, no. She smiled at the response, “Ahh, a new love! It’s nice to see young love during such horrid times!” 

You and Zuko paled, while the woman continued gushing, “in our little restaurant we have a booth for the couples that decide to come in and eat!” Scratch that, the blood that had left your faces sprang back at the word ‘couple’ and you two sat there stupidly, your ears red. “We serve them a couple's meal to make sure their love lasts!” 

You came to your senses, Zuko still out of it, and smiled sheepishly up at the woman, “there must’ve been a mistake, we aren’t-”

“Of course the meal is at a large discount as well.”

“-just on a date, it’s actually our three month anniversary!”

Zuko’s gaze shot from the old woman to your own, gawking at your words as his face got even redder. You smiled nervously to him for a second before turning back to the surprised old woman. She gasped, “Oh you should’ve told me! I’ll go get a little something extra for the lovely young lovers!” She practically bounced away, with hearts in her eyes.

You watched her disappear behind the kitchen door before you leaned back into the booth and took a look at the food you were given, “wow this actually looks delicious, I guess we kinda scored huh.” You started messing around with the food until you realized you hadn’t gotten a response and looked up to the frozen boy. 

He sat there with his eyes wide and his hands raised, clearly confused at your actions. You huffed out a laugh, “oh come on, I know it was kinda embarrassing at first, but did you hear her?” You waved your arms around to further your point, “we get a discount! In my eyes, that’s worth it.” You shrugged at the boy and he just sighed, resting his face on his hands before dragging them down and groaning. You laughed at his response and you two ate in silence, your flushed faces slowly disappeared as the two of you enjoyed your meal. 

You wiped your face, your stomach full, and your heart happy. You laughed at Zuko who seemed to have the same feeling, leaning back in the booth with his hand on his stomach, “that was actually really good.” You nodded in agreement, “yeah I’m glad you chose this place.”

Two new glasses were set on the table this time accompanied by the older woman and an older man as well. They smiled down at you when the woman spoke, “I told my husband about the cute young couple that had come in and he wanted to greet you as well!” The older man waved at the two of you, “howdy! I’m glad the two of you chose this shop, we are known for good fortune and long-lasting couples! Me and my gal,” he wrapped his arm around her while she giggled, “We came here when we were younger and we ended up buying the place when we were older! We love when couples come in to visit!” 

You awed at their story, they looked like they just fell in love even after all these years. Zuko, however just nervously smiled up at them, you weren’t sure if it was still about the lie or if it was about getting caught with the lie. You grabbed his hand from across the table, just trying to calm him down a little. “It’s a lovely place, we don’t regret coming in!” 

The couple nodded at you two, “well we won’t be in your way anymore! Your meal is on the house! As well as this too,” the wife pointed at the drinks they had set down and you gawked. “Are you sure? This was a lot of food! Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

The couple shook their heads and walked off while you yelled your thanks at them. You smiled over at Zuko before raising your hand off of his and putting it in the air, “free food!” The fire bender stared at you in a monotone way, cheeks flushed. You stared back with a wide smile, still trying to celebrate. He sighed and closed his eyes, high-fiving you. You laughed when he turned away from you and lifted his drink.

You examined the drink as well, sniffing it as it wasn’t anything you’ve ever seen before. You shrugged, “cheers princey,” you raise your glass and Zuko followed suit with a huffed laugh. After they clinked you pulled it back and took a big swig of it, the drink hit the back of your throat and you and Zuko came back coughing. You looked at him with wide eyes, as you realized what you had almost just chugged. You began to laugh at the scene and reached across the table to slap Zuko’s arm, while he just stared at the drink.

“...that is so much alcohol.”

“...you know technically I’m old enough to-” “No.”

\---

The two of you arrived back at the summer house after exploring the market a little more, the sun had started to lower in the sky. While you were walking, Zuko had stolen the bag of rice from you and even though you fought with the fire bender about it, your shoulder was very grateful for the help. 

In the courtyard, the group seemed to have just started dinner, gathered around the fire with various foods spread out. Katara looked up from her chopping to see you empty-handed, “did you forget to get the rice?! What were you guys doing?” You gaped at her, “I cannot believe you think I’m that stupid Katara, I thought we were sisters!” Her face deadpanned at your comment and you grumbled as you pointed to Zuko and your bag on his arm, “guess we aren’t allowed to joke in this family anymore.” 

The others laughed at your comment as you went to sit next to them. Suddenly you got excited, “you guys would not believe what happened at this restaurant in the market.” 

You spent the rest of dinner talking about it, much to Zuko’s embarrassment and the other’s entertainment. 

The sun had set and you and Suki stayed back to clean up dinner while the rest of the group headed to their rooms, everyone tired from training today. You were just glad no one needed to be healed. 

“Did they really think you and Zuko were a couple?” You laughed at the question and shrugged, “I mean if they didn’t then they’re good actors, honestly we were too deep into it. I couldn’t even tell them we weren’t, I felt like it would break their hearts.” Suki laughed as she scrubbed the pot, “well did you like it?” “Yeah!” You said enthusiastically, surprising the Kyoshi warrior in front of you, “really-” “The food was amazing! Did I tell you that they gave us the most alcoholic drinks I’ve ever known, it was crazy. Zuko didn’t let me drink it.”

Suki blinked at you, “no I mean did you like pretending to be Zuko’s girlfriend?” You froze, “...wha- well I mean, we didn’t really even do anything couple-y. We just ate.” The girl shook her head, “what a waste of a fake date, you should've held his hand or something.” You laughed nervously, “I mean we went in there holding hands.” 

Suki laughed loudly and shoved you a little bit, “are you joking? That’s why they thought you were a couple! What, do you guys just hold hands all the time.” You had finished cleaning up your area and the two of you started walking toward the house, “...yeah?” Suki sighed, “you guys are just awful. Goodnight (Y/N).” You stuck your tongue out at her at the comment before saying your goodnight yourself. 

Walking to your own room, you got lost in your thoughts. Did you like being Zuko’s lunch girlfriend? I mean yeah, it was awkward but it was fun. You laughed to yourself when you remembered drinking the ‘gifts’ that the couple gave you two. Zuko was priceless. You continued your way to your room, only to be stopped by the very boy you were thinking about.

“Oh hey, what’s up?” You looked up at him, from the doorway to his room. He stood in his room, the doorway the only thing separating the two of you. He looked a little nervous but cleared his throat, “so, you know how I always like,” he looked around you to see if anyone was listening and you laughed a little at the action, “I always end up sleeping in your bed.” 

A little surprised at the question, I mean of course you knew, but the two of you never really talked about the nighttime occurrences where Zuko would be in a nightmare frenzy and come to your room to sleep. Except for the one night, you always woke up alone in your bed, so no confrontation ever happened. You nodded, face a little flushed at the thought but you smiled at him, “yes, I think I am knowledgeable about that.” 

Zuko rolled his eyes at your joke before he went back to his nervous state, “Well I was just thinking that since I always end up there maybe I could,” he cleared his throat, “Maybe I should just... start there?” He ended the sentence in a higher pitch and stared at you with a glowing red face, already embarrassed. You processed his question, and sighed, accidentally triggering something in the boy, “it’s okay, I was just askin-” You raised your hands and grabbed his arms, he tensed under your hands. “Hey! That’s totally fine! Why do you think I would say no?” 

You laughed when he just shrugged and waved him off, “of course you can just get changed and come in.” He sighed, his whole body losing the stiffness he was holding from asking the question, and he smiled a little at you before nodding. You walked over to your own room to change yourself.

You had just put on your sleep clothes when you heard a knock and let the boy in. He looked shy about the whole situation, despite the fact he’s slept in here almost every night we’ve been here. “What happened to the big bad fire prince? You look like I’m gonna bully you, are you okay?” You watched him roll his eyes at your name for him, already making you feel better about his attitude coming back. 

“I don’t know, I just feel like I’m bothering you. And don’t call me that, I’m not even a prince anymore,” Zuko shook his head at you while you giggled at him and got into bed, the fire bender following suit. “Well, you aren’t bothering me if anything you help me sleep too. You know you're like, super warm, right? Keeps my feeties warm,” you wiggled your toes under the blankets and he just huffed a laugh at you. “Leave it to you to joke about it,” he shook his head and just watched as you smiled at him, “you’re something else.” 

Using your own words against yourself, that should be a crime. Your face flushed at the comment and the look he gave you when he spoke, you pulled the blanket up to cover it. 

“Welp, Goodnight Zuko,” you quickly flipped over so you weren’t facing him, and you heard him lightly laugh at your actions. You felt his arms snake over your waist to pull you closer to him, surprising yourself at his bold actions, internally screaming. Although his warmth enveloped you and you felt your body lose all the adrenaline from earlier, sleep smacked you in the face.

You thought you heard him mumble ‘something else’ again, but you weren’t sure as sleep overtook you and you fell into your dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just fun to write and it was an easy chapter too! I hope y'all don't mind that it isn't really important to the plot but I think it's just a fun one to read! :)
> 
> This chapter is the calm before the storm, Sozin's Comet is coming up! Also, I'm glad you guys like the story I gave the reader! I know it's kind of out there but I thought it would be more interesting to have her go through that stuff! Thanks for being supportive! :))


	20. The News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The comet is coming, and there is alot to do.

Zuko stirred in the bed, the morning light had crested the window that sat on the wall in front of him, warming his face. He blinked away the bright light, adjusting to the morning. 

He could already tell that the sun had just risen, and the familiar feel of the room he used to stay in with his mother flooded his mind. The small hours of sleep he used to get before he met you were always accompanied by nightmares that kept him awake. However, he hadn’t broken the habit of waking up early, but now he woke up fully rested and warm.

Zuko began to fully wake up, clearly aware of his surroundings now. You laid in front of him, in the same position that he had pulled you into when you two had gone to bed. The fire bender felt his face flush at his bold actions the night before, he just couldn’t believe the feeling that your words could give him. The hope that you had given him. 

With your back pressed to his chest, he couldn’t see your face but the soft snores that mixed in with the morning birds, he almost found himself lulled back to sleep. But, as he did most mornings with you, he knew he had to get up before you woke up. He claimed to himself it was so he didn’t wake you up on accident but in reality, he just didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of you. (Not that he should be worried about that)

Also, maybe so he doesn’t relive his freakout when you were at the market. Katara still makes fun of him…

The fire bender sighed and relished a little more in the position you two were in before pulling his arm out from under you. He wasn’t as careful as you needed to be as to not wake you up, you slept like a log. He realized this after escaping and accidentally slamming into the door, only to realize you didn't even stir. 

He was just about pulled away when you started shifting, unusual for you to do, and he froze. He waited for you to stop but you managed to shimmy yourself back into his embrace, and a little more. Zuko became very aware of your body touching him and the parts of him that your body was touching. Well shit.

Zuko looked at you from the doorway, the escape not going as planned but he didn’t know how much his body temperature could rise before he passed out, and he wasn’t waiting around to find out. 

The fire bender wished he could just stay in bed, in the warmth and calm that you gave him, but time was ticking and the comet was coming. He was just hoping that after all this was over, he could be with you. So long as the Avatar wins, and he survives, and you surviv-

Zuko suddenly left the doorway and stood looking out into the hallway. You were going to be fighting too. You’re a soldier in this war, and there is no way to guarantee your safety at the end of the day. He felt his stomach drop, what can he do?

The fire bender’s ears picked up on the avatar laughing, anger suddenly filling him. Who can laugh at a time like this? Then, Zuko got an idea, if they aren’t ready for the comet then he’ll make them ready. 

If not for the world’s sake, then for her sake.

\---

You ran, splashing through the low water of the swamp, the plants tangling with your ankles. Sweat dripped down your face as the wall of flames followed behind you, swallowing the trees and evaporating the water around it. 

You kept running, your lungs burned with smoke and soot that you breathed in, pulling you toward the center. Toward the tree.

You stopped, the wall of wood present in front of you. You took a deep breath waiting for the flames to engulf you, only for it not to come. You turned, and found yourself alone in the swamp, only to be pulled back to the tree trunk. The healed wood stared back at you, reminding you of your past and what had happened. There was a small indent in the wood, shaped oddly like a hand. You looked into it, reaching your hand toward the divot. 

“(Y/N)” 

You looked up at the tree as the world started fading.

“-N)!, (Y/N) wake UP!” 

Your eyes shot open, and you jumped up, headbutting the alarm in the forehead. “Ack (Y/N) what the hell,” Suki grumbled holding her forehead, while you did the same, squinting and trying to process the last few seconds. 

“Wha- Who, What’s going on? Did Momo get stuck in a tree trunk again?” You rubbed your eyes and went to stand, falling forward and onto Suki, who held you upright forgetting about her swollen forehead. 

“The hell- No! Zuko’s gone crazy and is attacking Aang!” Suki began pulling you toward the door, while you processed her words. “...Attacking Aang? Why?” you continued to rub your eyes, while Suki gawked at your lack of emotion. 

“We don’t know! He’s just going crazy, we thought you could do something!” Suki pushed you out into the courtyard where you stumbled a little before gazing up and out at the blurry figures. Rubbing your eyes again, you looked up just in time to see Zuko yell at the Avatar and take a blast at the young boy.

“Ah shit!” 

“-u’re not ready! The comet is coming and you guys are just messing around! What if we lose! What will happen to the world, or to you! Or to (Y/-” 

“Hey! Turn off the oven, man!”

Zuko’s speech was interrupted as you ran as fast as your groggy legs could carry you, and stumbled into the fire bender that didn’t even budge as you dropped your full weight onto him. Stepping an arm's length away from Zuko, he turned to face you to find you looking up at him with tired squinted eyes and softly asking, “what the hell are you doing, dude?”

Zuko sighed, only a little flushed by your ineffective tackle, “Am I the only one that cares about the comet?” You watched as the others looked at each other and shrugged, obviously confused. You heard Zuko sigh and without really thinking you leaned your head on Zuko’s shoulder as he began talking again. 

You zoned out, the groggy feeling taking over, and the vibration of Zuko talking soothing the little adrenaline you had. You only focused when you heard Aang speak up, “then we have to fight during Sozin’s Comet. We need to be ready…” 

You shifted your head off Zuko’s shoulder, and muttered, “Sozin’s… holy shit you mean the Great Comet?” The crew looked at you funny before Zuko spoke up, “that’s what we used to call it until my great-grandfather used it to start the war…” 

You remembered the day when you were on the run and the sky turned red. You weren’t in danger, they found you long after the war had started. But you had heard the rumor.

It was the day the Air Nomads were ambushed, the day they were all killed.

You looked up at Aang, fear in your eyes, while he talked to your friends and planned the next course of action. The fact this comet was used to wipe out a whole nation in search of one boy...

...Do we even know what we are up against?

Fear hit you like a train. I mean, yeah, you could run from a few fire benders, but even they got the slip-on you and you almost died. Did you alone even pose a threat to an entire enhanced fire nation army?

You felt a hand on your shoulder, the weight of your thoughts let up as the fire bender next to you bent over and looked you in the face, “are you okay?”

You actually thought about it and looked around at the people beside you. Sokka and Suki laughing at something Toph said, Katara and Aang thought of strategies while animatedly talking to each other. Whatever remaining weight that you carried left you as you gazed at your friends.

You turned to Zuko with a smile, and grabbed the hand that rested on your shoulder, “yeah, you know, I really am.”

“Alright everyone,” Sokka yelled and pulled everyone’s attention back to him, “let’s get training!”

\---

You tumbled to the ground, the block of earth that had surprised you flew to the side after impact. Sliding several feet away and through the sand, you heaved trying to get air back into your lungs. You heard a pair of footsteps running up to you, “(Y/N)! I’m so sorry!” 

Sitting up and getting some deep breaths in, you waived off the avatar, “no big deal,” taking a breath in between words, “I’m… good.” Aang looked guiltily down at you and reached to help you up. 

Standing, the weight of the impact really hit you and you elected to sit down on a rock near the beach. “Are you sure you’re okay,” Aang asked for the fourth time and you smiled at his persistence, “do you want me to say I’m not?” He laughed a little at your joke before you spoke up again, “just go back to training, I need a minute.” He nodded and headed back to the crew, flames and water flew around a part of the beach, showing the skills of your friends.

Sitting in the distance you watched your friends fight, all offensive moves and tactics as they prepared for the worst during the comet. You sighed, knowing that you might not be the best fighter but you sure as hell are going to use everything you have to protect these people. 

You continued to watch the crew, zoning in on a certain fire bender. Zuko dodged Katara’s water whip, swinging low and blowing fire toward the water bender with precision. If Katara wasn’t as talented and agile as she was, she would’ve been burned. However, your eyes seemed to only attach the boy, as you watched his focused gaze, analyzing everything around him before launching into another attack. 

Toph managed to knock Zuko down, and he hit the sand in a similar way that you did but got up faster, clearly not getting hit nearly as hard as you were. However, before he got back to training, his face shot to you sitting on the sidelines, and you whipped your head away.

Your face red, you pretended like you’d been watching the ocean and elected to stay that way for now. For as much embarrassing stuff that you two do together, there is always something stupid that makes you so flustered. 

Trying to get rid of your flushed face, you focused on the ocean’s waves. You could remember sitting with your mother and father on the earth kingdom beaches, waiting for the sun to go down, and it calmed you. You knew the war was coming, you knew the comet was coming, but there was nothing you could do to stop it from happening, all you could do is stop it from continuing. 

Taking a deep breath, you hoped for the power to put an end to all this. Watching the waves, you spoke to the moon in your head, asking for her guidance. Soon the waved lulled you, your vision darkening until it was gone all at once

Zuko had definitely seen you watching him, and now he was self-conscious about every move he made. So when Katara smacked him around and he tumbled again, he looked up to see your reaction but saw you were gone. Groaning he stood up, “Where is (Y/N)?” 

The fighting suddenly stopped, water and earth hit the ground as everyone started looking around. Aang pointed to where you were, “I walked her over there a few minutes ago,” he thought and then shrugged, “maybe she went back to the house?” Zuko would have agreed with the boy, but something made him look harder. The fire bender ran over to where you were, finding it vacant, with footsteps leading up to where they were washed away by the water creeping on the beach. Zuko followed them and looked out into the water.

“We’ve been over this Zuko, water benders don’t just hang out in the- oh my moon she’s in the ocean,” Katara looked out just in time to see your head fall under the waves and not come back up. Zuko started running out into the water, “(Y/N)!” yelling your name and clawing at the waved that hit him back. With no hesitation, Katara flew into the water, riding above it with Aang following close behind. 

“(Y/N)!” The two of them reached you in a panic, blasting the water where you stood under up and into the air. You flowed up with the pillar of water, gasping and taking a breath when you reached the surface. The two water benders grabbed your arms, pulling you back out of the deep part of the ocean and onto the beach where a soaked Zuko and other dry members of the team sat waiting for you. 

You coughed spit, getting the water of your lungs, and everyone watched hovered above you, Katara bending what water she could out. “I didn’t think water benders could drown,” Katara smacked the underside of Sokka’s head at the comment, the swordsman pouted and rubbed the injury. 

When you came to, Katara had propped you up on her knees, “(Y/N), are you okay?... what happened?” You shot up, Suki swung back traumatized by that yesterday morning, and you looked forward at nothing before whispering, “I need... to…”

Zuko rubbed your back as you started coughing again, “...what did you say?” You turned to face him, “I need to go back to the swamp.”

A silence fell over the group before Toph spoke up, “you wanna go back to the place you got stabbed…” You looked over at the girl, “yes.”

The whole crew stood up and began walking away without a word, and you sprung up, “hey, guys. come on! I just saw it when I blacked out! I saw the tree that saved me! It’s like it’s calling me back, just like it did the first time.” 

“More like it’s calling you to your death,” Zuko turned to face you and point out at the ocean, “You almost drowned! What kind of ‘call’ is that?!” You gasped at the boy, “you dare doubt the magical tree that saved my life?” The fire bender pinched the bridge of his nose, “YES!”

You scoffed, another cough coming out of you, causing the whole crew to look at you in worry, “... guys I just know I have to go back,” you looked at the sand in thought.

A pair of boots walked into your vision, and you looked up to see Katara smiling down at you, “I’ll go with you.” You smiled up at her and grabbed her outstretched hand, pulling yourself up. You guys locked eyes for a moment before you grabbed her as hard as you could, embracing her in thanks.

Zuko interrupted the hug, “I should probably go with her, you need to train.” You looked up at Zuko and smiled sadly, “I appreciate it Zuko, but Aang needs you, you have to keep teaching him fire bending.” Zuko started to speak again but cut himself off, realizing that you were right. He sighed and just pulled you into a hug, Suki and Toph gasped at the sight, while the rest just shook their heads. 

“Will you please be careful,” Zuko buried his face into your shoulder, “and come back quickly?” You laughed at the tickling vibrations that his voice made on your skin, and reached around to embrace him too, “well it’s not like I’m gonna get stabbed again unless Katara is actually evil.” He pulled away from you and looked you in the eye, clearly fed up with your jokes, while you nervously laughed at the hardcore look the fire bender was giving you. 

“I’m serious.” You sighed, “Okay Mom, I’ll be careful and back before midnight.” Zuko sighed and closed his eyes, resting his forehead on yours, making your face heat up, and you suddenly felt the urge to ruin the moment. “Well actually we’ll be home in like a day or two, the swamp is pretty far-” 

Zuko pulled you closer again, his chin now rested on your head, “please, shut up.”

“Yep, alright.”

\---

You and Katara reached the swamp in no time, Appa aided a lot and even went in with the two of you, despite his fear of the place. The trip was peaceful, the constant pull to the swamp grew larger and larger as you approached the land, but the feeling didn’t deter you.

You waded through the water, Katara not far behind as you looked for the large tree, a conversation you wish wasn’t happening, was happening. 

“Look I’m just saying I think he’s in love with you,” the water bender shrugged, you could only assume a smug smile rested on her face as you groaned. “I appreciate the thought, but he doesn’t,” you shook your head. How hard is it to find a massive fucking tree?? 

“Well, how do you know that? Did you ask him?” 

“...no, BUT come on! Why would a guy like a girl like me? And to say he’s ‘in love’ with me? Katara, I’ve known him for a couple of months! There’s no way!”

“‘A girl like you’? (Y/n) what are you talking about?” 

You sighed, “well… he’s like a prince, right? I’m some weird sixteen-going-on-ninety-seven girl that just showed up one day, where is the chemistry there?” You looked down at your boots, covered by murky water as you stomped slowly through the water. Suddenly, your head shot forward, an ache hitting the back of your head and you turned to face Katara, “Did you just smack me?”

Katara looked angry, “(Y/N), if he cared about any of that, don’t you think he would’ve run when you told him? Or screw him, what about us? Aang is a hundred and twelve!” Her gaze softened and she rested a hand on your shoulder, “we kinda collect weirdos.” You laughed at the girl and sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

She nodded but then got a devious look on her face, and raised her nose in a snooty way before walking by you, “besides maybe I’m asking the wrong question.” You looked at her in confusion, and followed her as she continued into the swamp, “wha-” 

Suddenly she turned and looked you in the eyes, “Are YOU in love with him?”

You froze, “I- well it’s-,” you looked up and around her, trying not to look the devil in the eyes, before you landed on something else, “OH LOOK IT’S THE TREE!”

You walked past her quickly, but not fast enough not to hear her grumble, “this conversation isn’t over, (Y/N).”

You walked up to the wall of wood that was the trunk of your favorite magical tree. Looking around it, you tried to figure out why it was calling you here. Not finding anything, you glanced at Katara who shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s your tree.” 

You sighed, “hmm,” you looked up at the top of the tree that you could barely even see, “Uh hello tree! I’m back!”

When nothing happened, you still continued, “Um, thank you for saving me! I think you did that, uh, but I never said thanks! So, Thanks..?”

Katara sighed behind you, “What about your vision, what did you see?” You shrugged, “When I blacked out, I just saw the swamp, nothing else.” You thought for a moment before gasping, “But I did dream something!”

You thought back to the dream you had, the divot that you saw on the dream tree wasn’t on the real one, but maybe if you…

You placed your hand on the tree trunk, the familiar feeling of the bark beneath your hand made you smile. Once your palm made contact, a solid buzz of energy came flying from the tree, and you braced yourself, your hand somehow stuck on the trunk preventing you from flying back. Katara tried to stand her ground, bending the water forward, so she could fight the wind. 

When you were able to open your eyes you saw the connection of your hand to the tree glowing, the veins in your arm doing the same as the energy buzz became louder and louder, blocking any other noise from your ears. 

And you blacked out.

...

When you woke up, you were on Appa’s back flying back toward the house, or that what you assumed. You shoot up from your place on the saddle and saw Katara at the front of the bison. She turned to you with a worried face and then gasped as she saw you awake.

“(Y/N)!” She scrambled to get up and sit next to you, helping you sit up, “are you okay?” You nodded and looked at your hands, “yeah, I’m actually great!” She looked surprised, “that sound stopped and the wind died down, and all I saw was you drop out of the air,” she looked worried and you felt bad for making her feel that way, “what happened?”

You shrugged, “you know as much as I know about that tree, it just seems to like me I guess…” 

The two of you agreed the circumstance was weird, but the pull that you felt was gone, and you feel better than you had for a while. You felt stronger... and better. 

“Hey, we probably shouldn’t tell Zuko I passed out.”

“...Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to write the whole chapter I had planned, but it was getting too long and I didn't want you guys to have to wait any longer.
> 
> So this is the first half of the chapter I had planned, and I already have some more written but I'll post it with the second half! 
> 
> Thanks for all your suppourt! And for dealing with my stupid upload schedule! :)


	21. The Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew leaves to find Iroh, the only one who can help

You hopped off your favorite bison and landed on the stone courtyard floor, turning and making sure you thanked the beast before continuing on your way. Patting Appa, you looked around and found the courtyard surprisingly empty, nobody training or even just hanging out. Katara walked out from behind the bison, looking just as confused as you, “where is everybody?” 

You shrugged and turned to the house, cupping your hands around your mouth while walking around, “Hey! We’re back! Zuko?! Suki?! So-”

“Is Aang with you guys?”

You screamed and jumped back, Sokka popping out of nowhere, Toph and Suki as well. “Moon you almost killed me,” you took a deep breath and looked up at the boy confused, “and what do you mean ‘Is Aang with us’? Of course not.”

The group sighed, Toph rubbed her face, clearly exhausted, while Katara walked up beside you to join the conversation, “what happened to Aang? Why did you think he would be with us?” The water bender was obviously concerned, showing through her words, but she kept a strong face through her worry.

Suki sighed, “We don’t know, we haven’t been able to find him… he’s gone.” You and Katara looked at each other before you whipped your head back to the crowd, “‘Gone’? What do you mean? He just disappeared?!” 

Sokka grabbed your shoulders, “(Y/N), Aang can fend for himself. He’s fine, we just have to find him.”

“Especially before the comet,” you whipped your head toward the voice, Sokka releasing his hold on your shoulders, as Zuko approached you guys, “Or else we’re screwed.” You looked up at the boy and smiled a little at him in greeting, and he stood close to you, mumbling a ‘welcome back’ so only you could hear.

Katara sighed and rubbed her face, “You guys have checked everywhere?” Zuko nodded, “He’s nowhere on the estate, and not in town. We found footprints in the morning leading into the ocean,” You looked at him worried, remembering how you had almost drowned only a day ago, but the fire bender reassured you, “but he has to be okay, he didn’t turn up on shore.” 

You nodded and thought of places he might be before Toph groaned, “We are running out of time! You,” she pointed at Zuko, “you used to track twinkle toes all the time, how did you do it?” Zuko grimaced at the mention of his past but suddenly realized a valuable detail to his old escapades

“We might not be able to find him, but I know who can.”

\---

“He’s gone.”

Katara looked up at the woman riding on the back of the scent searching beast, “What do you mean he’s gone?” You looked down at your hands, anxiety rising in you, “you don’t mean he’s de-” The woman stopped you there, “No, he’s not dead. We’d be able to find his body.” The crew sighed in relief knowing that their best friend and their only hope wasn’t dead.

“He doesn’t exist.”

Your eyes bulged at the comment, “Well I don’t know about everybody else, but I sure as hell remember traveling with the avatar.” 

“Well if we can’t find Aang,” Zuko spoke up, “then there is only one other person who can help take down my father.”

The crew looked at him surprised, and he continued, “my uncle.” The woman scoffed, “you mean that creepy old man that you dragged around looking for your little girlfriend?” She pointed at Katara who just grimaced.

Zuko’s eye darted to you for a minute, then realized she was talking about the other water bender in the group. Embarrassed the fire bender sighed, “yes. He’s the only one I know who knows the true extent of the comet’s powers," he stood and bowed to the woman, "can you do it?”

The woman looked around at all of you, surveying each and every member of the group before sighing herself, “Why not.”

Everyone went to hop onto Appa, you helped pull up Zuko, and just like that you guys were off, following the woman from above but covered enough that the fire nation wouldn’t see Appa. 

A silence filled the air while the serious nature of what was to come settled in on everybody. Well, except you. You laughed into your hand, making a few heads shoot up to look at you. You sat between Katara and Zuko, resting your hands on their shoulders as you tried to calm down, “...haha I didn’t know you two used to date.” 

The two so-called ex-lovers looked at you in surprise, then at each other before turning back to you. Katara sighed, and just brushed your hand off her shoulder and grumbled, walking to the front of the bison where Suki sat, not even giving the comment more time than it needed. She's been exposed to you teasing more than the other. Speaking of the other, Zuko seemed to think you were actually being serious.

“We didn’t! She was just joking, I think, I mean she should be-” Zuko stuttered, surprising you that he thought he had to defend his relationship status. You got his attention again by slapping the hand that had been resting on Katara on his other shoulder while you continued to laugh at his defense. “Zuko I know! I was just kidding,” you calmed down a little more, seeing him deflate and rub his face, and your own face grew concerned and you whispered out of the other's hearing, “...are you okay?”

Zuko looked at you as if he was trying to send you his thoughts without really speaking them out loud, but then sighed when he realized he was unsuccessful. “Yeah… I’m just really stressed out.” You weren’t really convinced, but you still patted his shoulders and sat down, the boy following your actions, “I know what you mean... but we are going to win, with or without Aang.”

He nodded and looked off into the trees of the forest, silence rising again. You did the same, looking out the other side of the saddle, watching the leaves brush by quickly. 

“Do you really have to fight as well?”

You followed the voice back to your favorite fire bender, who was still looking out at the trees, “...are you talking to me?”

He turned to face you, an indescribable look on his face, “yes.”

You blinked at him, “Do I really have to fight? Of course, I do," you laughed a little, "I hope you’re joking.” He stared at you, eyes flickering away for a moment before turning back to you, nervous. “You’re not joking,” you gawked at him, “Zuko, I’m not just going to sit around while my friends risk their life, why would you even ask me that?”

Zuko sighed and rubbed at his face, “I don’t know, It’s just… maybe you could stay safe, and out of the war.” You almost laughed out loud, “I don't know what I would do if I couldn’t fight alongside everyone,” you reached out and rested your hand on his shoulder again, “the thought alone of you going to fight and risking your life, while I sat and waited for you to come back… I don’t even know, It’s never something I could imagine, nor something I've ever thought about.” 

You looked around at all your friends, “I mean if any of you got hurt, and I could’ve been there to help,” you smiled at him, your signature closed eyes, making his heart skip a beat for a moment, “I couldn’t live with myself.”

Zuko looked at you while you smiled, that face alone making it so much harder for him to think about you fighting the enemy, and he groaned and buried his face in his hands, “...are you sure?” You actually did laugh out loud this time and rested your hand on the top of his head, giving him some sort of noogie, “yes princey, I’m sure.” 

He looked up at you, his face flushed but knowing you wouldn’t change your mind, “... fine but the same goes for you.” You looked at him questioningly, “what?”

He fixed his posture and looked at you, smiling slightly, “if anything happened to you, I could never live with myself,” you blushed at the words and the soft look the fire bender was giving you. It’s times like this that you almost believe what Katara said, that maybe he would like you...

“...So don’t be stupid.” 

You snapped out of your trance, and smiled, smacking the smirking boy in the arm, “Hey! Watch it, fire boy!”

\---

You watched Sokka and Katara greet master Pakku, or their new grandfather, and smiled at the family reunion. The boy excited talked to the old master, who looked more exasperated with the conversation than anything. You sighed happily, it was nice to have moments like these in this time, they gained a family member even when so many are losing them. The wistful smile on your face dropped a small bit, remembering the people you've lost in this war. 

You sighed, a little downtrodden at the memories and decided to give the family some time, turning to go back to the camp you all had landed in about an hour ago. Instead of seeing the camp, you turned and found yourself looking into a familiar chest, the face attached seemed just as surprised to see you as you were him.

Smiling, hiding your depressing thoughts for the moment, you looked up at him, “Zuko! What’s going on?” he seemed nervous and you instantly grew concerned, “have you talked to your uncle yet?” He tensed at the question and didn't reply and naturally you assumed the worst, “...did it not go well?”

He looked up at you with wide eyes, waving his hands in front of himself, “No! I haven’t gone to see him yet…” he dropped his hands and looked away, “I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”

A little worried, you smiled at the boy, “I don’t know how I could help you with that,” you shifted your hands around in the air, “I only met the guy once and he served me the best tea of my life.” You wiped a tear away from your face, remembering the day in the shop and the amazing flavor of the tea that Iroh brewed for you. 

Zuko just stared at you for a moment, and sighed, pinching his nose, “I know it’s just,” he looked away from your gaze again growing more nervous, “...could you come with me?”

You looked surprised, “Wha- Zuko, I dunno if that’s a great idea,” you reached out and put your hand on his shoulder, bringing his gaze back to you, “this is something you need to do yourself, ya know?” 

Zuko stopped you, “I know! It’s just,” he looked down, red tinge to his cheeks and mumbled, “could you just stand in the room?” Confused you huffed a little laugh, making his cheeks flare up more, “but why? Wouldn’t that be kind of akwar-”

“It would help me! Okay? You,” he brought a hand up to rub his face, trying to cover the flush but ineffectively doing so, “you just… help me.” You stared up at the fire bender, surprised, but a soft smile grew on your face. Not handling the silence well, Zuko just sighed, “It’s fine, I’ll go by myself.” He turned and began to walk away, the tips of his ears were red along with his face, cursing himself in his head for even asking you. 

He felt an arm slide into his own, linking together. Looking down he saw you smiling and walking forward, almost pulling him. “Whenever you need me, I'll be there,” you met his gaze, “that’s a promise and a guarantee.” He looked in awe at you, but your smile was infectious so he just nodded down at you without any words, continuing on the path to his uncle’s tent.

While you walked, thoughts came through your head. Now, you knew Zuko needed to make amends with his uncle, you just thought this would be something he’d want to do on his own. You weren’t worried about how his uncle would take it either, from the stories you’ve heard he will accept the ex-prince with open arms. As much as you live by the promise you just made to him, it was still confusing to you that the fire bender would want you in the room during such a personal moment. 

You took a deep breath as you reached the tent’s opening, and you could feel Zuko’s arm tense under your hold. Ignoring your own worries you reassured him, “It’ll be fine, I’ll be right behind you.” He nodded and entered the tent, kneeling on a mat that rested on the tent's floor as you followed and kneeled behind him, just out of reach to give him space.

It was still inside the tent, Iroh sat ahead with his back facing you two, as he seemed to be setting up for tea. You almost sighed at the smell, similar to that of his tea shop in Ba Sing Se. Shit, get ahold of yourself. 

“Uncle,” Zuko started, “I’m sorry. I know there isn’t anything that I could say that could change what I did and how I acted, but I’m sorry.” Zuko waited for a response, movement, anything really as he looked up at his uncle’s back. When nothing came, he teared up, “I took your words for granted, you teachings, your wisdom. I never meant for things to go this way, and I’ve changed!” 

You heard the boy’s voice crack, looking up and seeing the tear run down his cheeks you subtle scooted closer and placed a hand on his back, rubbing in circles. He looked over at you, “I’ve changed so much. And… I learned so much, like who to trust and who is my real family,” his gaze didn’t falter, and you gave him a smile continuing to try and comfort him. 

The quiet that followed made your own stomach drop and you couldn't speak for Zuko, but he must've taken it harder because he looked back up at his uncle and pleaded, “please, uncle, please just say something…” Another short silence ran through the tent, only the clinking of a glass teapot and cups ran in the air.

“My nephew,” Zuko tensed under your hand resting on his back when his uncle spoke, and even you looked up, eager to hear the old man’s words. 

“You have grown so much.”

Iroh turned to face his nephew, a tear running down his smiling face. Zuko laughed in relief and wiped the remaining wetness on his face. Standing from his kneel, the ex-prince rose and embraced his uncle, surprising the old man himself but Iroh hugged back nonetheless. 

“I am so glad to have you back,” Iroh spoke as he opened his eyes, looking over his nephew's shoulder at you, who was trying to shrink out of the picture, “and you have brought a friend along.”

Zuko tensed and stepped away from his uncle, motioning for you to stand, “this is (Y/N).” You stood and bowed, “I’ve heard many stories about you,” you looked up at Iroh and smiled when he laughed, “all good things I promise.” 

When he finished laughing, he really got a good look at you, squinting very closely before his eyebrows shot toward the sky, “ahh you are the kind girl from my tea shop!" He then looked confused at Zuko before turning back to you, cupping his mouth and whispering, knowing the boy could still hear, "he tried to stab you." You laughed and nodded, “ yeah but the quality tea made up for the threat on my life." Iroh laughed while Zuko shrunk into himself as if he forgot that he held a sword in your face. The old master calmed down a little before looking between his nephew and yourself. 

“The last time I saw you two together, you were stuck in a cave,” Zuko cringed at the memory and shyly looked at you, who shrugged, “how did you two become friends?”

You just smiled as Zuko explained, “It’s a long story, but she helped me convince the Avatar to let me join them,” he looked at you with a cocky grin, “even though Sokka did all the work.” You gasped, acting offended, “I told you to take. that. back,” you smacked his arm with no real venom at each word, earning a low laugh from the fire bender. Iroh watched the two of you interact with an interesting eye before being interrupted by your favorite water tribe girl.

“(Y/N), Zuko, We need to discuss a new plan that doesn’t rely on Aang coming back,” Katara spoke from outside the tent, respecting the privacy of this matter. Zuko looked over at his uncle who nodded and then quickly made his way through the tent flaps to discuss the strategy. You followed, albeit much slower, knowing you weren't the strategist of the group, and even smiled at the friendly nature that Katara and Zuko spoke, even if it was about war.

A couple of months ago, Katara would’ve ripped the boy’s head off for looking her way. It's crazy how people change. 

“(Y/N),” you turned at the sound of your name, seeing Iroh emerge from the tent. You smiled at the older gentleman and greeted him with a small bow of your head. He seemed to watch the two walk away beside you, stroking his beard in a thoughtful manner, “It seems that you have gotten through to him faster than I was ever able to.”

Surprised you shook your head in denial, “I don’t think you give yourself a lot of credit, all he talked about was you and how much he regretted what he had done.” Iroh hmmed, contemplating your words, “I’m not so sure I can take all the credit, you taught him things as a stranger, and grew into a friend…” You moved your gaze from the master and onto his nephew and sighed, smiling.

“...and maybe into a lover.” 

Your gaze snapped back to the older man, “Haha! Zuko and I are just friends!” You waved your arms around dismissively, trying to emphasize your point, “that's right just a stranger to a friend haha,” your voice trailed off, not very convincing. Iroh looked at you with knowledgeable eyes, “well you may consider him a friend,” he started walking back toward the tent, but before stepping in he turned to you, “but he might think otherwise.”

You watched Iroh disappear into the tent, his words absorbing into your skull repeatedly. He has to be joking, he’s met you twice no one can read an interaction like that, right? I mean he has obviously known this boy his whole life, so maybe, just maybe… it could be true, right? You flushed at the thought of your favorite fire bender liking you, or even loving you. The more you thought about it though, the more you tore yourself down. I mean even now, exiled and not tied to his princely ways, his uncle is still a Master fire bender in the Order of the White Lotus. And when this is all over, if you guys win the war, Zuko will be the new Firelord. You sighed, how could he even consider you an option?

“(Y/N).”

You screamed, turning and facing the voice of the boy who plagued your thoughts, “oh Zuko. Shit,” you held a hand over your heart, not prepared for the scare.

The boy laughed a little at your jump, which you pouted at while he pulled you under his arm, dragging you to the others to start the plans for tomorrow. 

“Thank you for coming with me,” he wasn’t looking down at you, instead straight ahead, but it still didn’t hide the red on his cheeks, “you didn’t have to, and I appreciate it.” You smiled, while he couldn’t see it, you knew he could feel it, “I’m telling you, that promise is for a lifetime, you aren’t getting rid of me.” You spoke the words jokingly, but it was a wish that you hoped for, to be by his side even after this war. He huffed at the comment, “I don’t want to anyway, and just so you know,” looking down at you, his cheeks were prominently red now, but he wasn’t hiding them and grumbled, “the same goes to you.”

You looked at him, embarrassed and confused, “what does?”

He looked away again, his signature grimace on his face, “You know… I promise to be by your side whenever you need me… guaranteed.” You were surprised, using your own words against yourself, but you laughed into your hand after a minute.

He grumbled and smacked your arm, “don’t laugh at me, I didn’t laugh at you.” You shook your head, “you’re such a grumpy guy.” You ruffled his hair and ran, knowing he wasn't far behind you, ready to give you a noogie that would leave you bald.

...

Not to your knowledge, a certain fire bending master sat back at his tent, watching the interaction go down from a distance.

“Ahh young love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a late update! I was on vacation, and didn't have a great internet connection!
> 
> I'm going to try and upload as many chapters as I can write this coming week, so let's hope for the best!
> 
> This is a shorter chapter because the previous one and this were supposed to be one, but here we are lmao, I hope you like it and again feedback is always accepted and cherished :)
> 
> *I just went back to edit this chapter, and I changed a lot so feel free to read again!*


	22. The Comet Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The comet is here, and you and Zuko are standing together to face Azula.

"In order for you to claim the title ‘Firelord’, you’ll have to take down your sister.”

The crew had been planning for hours, night setting in during the course of the conversation. Now, sitting around the campfire, Iroh had come to the group in order to aid with his knowledge of the comet. 

“...but you should not go alone, she poses a bigger threat than you might think,” the older man stroked his beard as the light from the campfire gave him a warm glow. Zuko thought for a minute, “Uncle, why don’t you come with me? You know all her moves, everything she’s learned.” You nodded your head in approval, the others agreeing but Iroh shook his head anyway. 

“I have to fulfill my destiny, here. In Ba Sing Se,” he lazily lifted his hand, gesturing to the wall behind him, “I was always told I was to conquer the great city… but I believe I may have misjudged who I was conquering for.” 

Zuko listened to his uncle explain and defeatedly nodded, knowing that it was true. The fire bender then rose his head and looked at you, who was sitting, listening to a story Iroh had begun to tell of the past. He watched your eyes glow in the light of the campfire, orange enveloping your face as you became entranced by his uncle’s words. 

If Iroh couldn’t, then you? He shook his head slightly, trying to shake the idea out of his head. You don’t deserve to face the manipulative disaster that is Azula, no one does. But the idea grew on him, if you come with him, he could protect you, and you could fight together. I mean if you had to fight, at least it was by his side. 

He suddenly focused back into the conversation, realizing he was locking eyes with the girl that filled his head. He jumped back and cleared his throat into his hand, face flushed. You laughed a little at his reaction before turning back to Sokka who had started designating positions in the interception of the fire nation ships.

“... Katara will take the ships on the right with Suki, (Y/N) and Toph-” 

“Wait,” Zuko interrupted, all eyes on him making him sweat. He looked over at you, “would you come with me to face Azula..,” he swallowed, “please.” You looked surprised, assuming that he would take another master with him or any offensive bender, but smiled at the fire bender nonetheless and nodded.

“Of course.” 

He smiled a little at your response but turned to listen to Sokka rework his plan, feeling your eyes still on him. 

\---

The plan was to drop you and Zuko at the fire nation palace, where Azula would presumably be. The crew rode on Appa, heavily armored and ready for battle, a sense of anxiety radiated off the group as Aang was still missing, and our other hope was reconquering Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth Kingdom. 

You scanned over your friends, it was unusual to see them so serious, and of course, you missed the jovial times that you guys usually resided in, but it was that time. Everything you have been doing, even from before all of your friends were even born, lead up to this moment. Your eyes reached Zuko, the boy was resting his chin on his hand, looking out at the clouds that littered the orange sky.

Scooting over you sat down next to him, bumping your shoulder into his to get his attention, “... are you doing alright?” He gazed at you, not lifting his chin out of his hand before responding, “as alright as I’ll ever be,” he sighed, “I’m just as nervous as the rest of you.” You nodded before joking, “I dunno Toph seems pretty sure of herself,” you gestured over to the earth bending girl who lifted her head at her name.

“You bet your ass I’m sure of myself,” she smiled wide and slapped an arm onto her bicep, patting the little muscle that was there. “Toph, language,” Katara had joined the conversation, chastising the young girl. Toph blew a raspberry at her, “hey lighten up a little girly, we are literally heading to war.” Katara held her head high, “doesn’t mean we have to act like barbarians.” 

You giggled from your spot beside the fire bender as the two girls bickered like sisters. A low laugh came from beside you and you looked up to see a fond look on the fire bender’s face. You smiled, “you know I’m really glad that you became part of our little family.” Surprised Zuko stared at you before shrugging himself, “I am too,” he became a little red, “it’s all thanks to you.” 

Embarrassed yourself, you nervously laughed, “well apparently Sokka did all the work,” and you nudged him again. He sighed, and reached up behind you ruffling your hair, “I’m just glad I met you.” Your face heated up as the fire bender continued to mess with your hair and you were sure he could feel the heat radiating off your face. 

“Well, I’m not glad you chased me through an alleyway.” 

You gasped, hoping that the red was draining from your face as you slapped the fire bender’s hand off your head, “Well I’m not glad you pointed a sword in my face!” Zuko laughed at your fake-angry face, and put his hands up in surrender, “yeah, yeah, I know.” You laughed and shoved him a little, and then settled back into the ride, realizing the two girls were still throwing lines back at each other. 

You sighed, trying to relax a little before you faced Zuko’s sister, but you knew she was no match for you two. Not while you were together. 

You felt a weight drop on your back, realizing it was a certain fire bender’s arm. Another flush replaced the previous one, realizing how close you were to the fire bender in general. You slowly looked up finding Zuko looking out and away from the saddle, but you could swear you saw the tips of his ears glowing red, and you smiled a little at his embarrassment. 

The bison shook, signifying the beast had landed, and you felt the warmth leave you as Zuko retracted his arm to stand. Well that was short-lived. The ex-prince held his arm out for you to grab and hoisted you up to stand. 

You looked at your friends and smiled, opening your arms. Katara and Suki laughed, running as they embraced you, making you stumble back a bit. You felt Toph and Sokka join the group hug, and you even felt the warmth of Zuko from behind yourself. 

“It’s all going to be okay,” you mumbled to everyone, “we can do this.” You squeezed the people that you could grab and then released them from your grasp, and everyone dispersed. A tear fell from your eye as you waved goodbye to your friends, not knowing what the future would hold for all of you, only hoping it was something good. 

You hopped off Appa, stumbling a bit but got caught by Zuko, who was waiting for you on the stone courtyard floor. You laughed nervously and backed up, dusting yourself off. You heard the groan of the bison readying for take-off and waved to your friends as they flew away, heading to intercept the fleet of ships. 

You turned to Zuko, who walked toward the fire nation palace, looking around with his fists ready. You ran a little to catch up with him, keeping a keen eye yourself, “how do we even know she’s here?” Zuko shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s just..” he paused for a moment as you reached the middle of the courtyard and stopped, “It’s like I can feel it.” You nodded, as ridiculous as it sounds, you knew gut feelings were real. I mean you followed one to a magical tree that saved your life. No judgments from you. 

Zuko lowered his guard, looking around, “she’ll come to us.” Confused, you continued to stay alert but followed suit and lowered your fists. A silence bloomed over you two as you gazed around the palace, noting that even though they are ruthless murderers, they did have a pretty neat style of architecture. 

“(Y/N),” You lowered your gaze from the styled roof shingles and faced Zuko with a raised eyebrow, “I… can I tell you something?” Laughing a little, you nodded, “yeah? I mean I don’t know if right now is a good time to tell a story,” you shrugged, “but go ahead.” He sighed shakily, “do you promise not to hate me,” he looked up at you, his face flushed.

With the look he gave you, you got serious, “wha- Zuko, I’d never hate you. What could you possibly say to think that?” He seemed to get more red at your words, and he leaned against a wall that held plants that decorated the courtyard and covered his face with the back of his hand. 

“I just don’t want you to ignore me,” he mumbled and you almost didn’t catch it, but you did. You sighed and walked up to him with a smile, holding his arms in your hands, “I won’t, and that's a promise, and…” you looked at him expectantly, and he sighed but smiled a little.

“And a guarantee.” You nodded and released his arms, still remaining close, “now let it out, hotshot.” He sighed and looked at you in the eyes for a minute before he had to look away, apparently, your smile was too intimidating. “Could you… close your eyes?” questioningly looking at the boy you smiled jokingly, “okay, kind of kinky,” which received a groan from the boy in front of you, but you did so anyway. 

You stood there with your eyes closed waiting for him to say something when you felt arms embrace you and a head rest on your shoulder. You gasped at the touch, not ready for the sensation, and ended up opening your eyes, only seeing the fire bender’s back. Awkwardly, you giggled a little, “you okay?” Zuko sighed, knowing it was just your reaction to situations like these, but for once he wished you would be serious.

“(Y/N)?” 

You grew nervous and you were sure he could hear your beating heart, “...yes Zuko?”

“I… I’m-”

“Zuzu!”

You felt Zuko’s body tense and held you tighter at the voice, springing into action, and shoving you behind him. You looked up, meeting the eyes of Azula. Or you thought it was Azula. Her hair was wild, obviously cut recently but jagged and… wrong. Her eyes were blown, wide, and unnatural. You could tell Zuko saw it too, his tense stance lightened a little, he was obviously confused at his sister’s state.

“Zuzu, you’ve finally made it,” She walked forward, out of the darkened shadow of the palace, “and you’ve brought a little friend with you as well. How cute.” You shivered at the word ‘friend’ as it held more venom than the others. 

“Azula, I’m here to take the title of Firelord,” Zuko prepared a battle stance, and raised his fists in preparation for the fight that was sure to come, “if you give up now we won’t have to fight.” Azula’s face dropped at his words, the fake smile she had put on for show vanished and was replaced by an angry frown, “You won’t take anything from me, it’s my rightful title. It’s mine! I am the new Firelord!” 

You immediately drew water from your pouch at the insanity that radiated off the teenage girl in front of you. Her eyes flew to you at the action, the evil smile raising back up on her face, adding to her signature crazy look, “I can’t believe you would bring your little friend into our family issues, don’t you think that that’s a little,” she turned to Zuko sweetly, “rude?” 

Zuko’s eyes shot to you for a moment and you whispered to him, “don’t let her get in your head Zuko… you know what she’s trying to do.” If he heard your words he didn’t say anything, “don’t talk about her, this is between us.”

Azula nodded as she took a few steps forward, “I do agree dear brother, this should stay between us,” she opened her eyes, smiling, “I challenge you to and Agni Kai.” 

A silence fell over the three of you, the wind blew around. Suddenly your laugh ripped through the courtyard, confusing even Zuko at this point. While holding your position you yelled at the crazy girl, “are you joking? Who are you to make the rules,” you wrapped the water around your arms, creating tentacles of water in case you needed to move fast, “you crazy bitch, you’re outnumbered.” 

Azula glowered at you, clearly angry that you upturned her plan, but you knew in your heart that Zuko wasn’t stupid enough to fall into her trap. 

“I accept.” 

No fucking way.

You turned to face the boy that you used to look up to but after that, well you don’t really know anymore. “Are you insane?! What are you even doing,” You yelled at the boy, waving your arms around, “she’s gone crazy!” Zuko sighed and nodded, “exactly. Something about her is… off.” “‘Off’? ‘Off’? Zuko come on!,” You gestured between the two of you, “we can take her fast, if she’s ‘off’ then it will be quick!” 

The fire bender looked down at you, “I’m sorry (Y/N), I have to do this.” You stared as you watched him walk forward, Azula’s smile creeping back on her face knowing that you could do nothing to change your mind. “You’re wise to not listen to your little girlfriend,” Azula said when she approached him, and Zuko grimaced, “she’s not my girlfriend.” Azula simply laughed, “aw what a shame, you two would have made a great couple,” she laughed devilishly, “too bad you’ll never live to see the day.”

You watched from a distance as a bad shiver ran up your back. This wasn’t the plan.

…

‘As long as Azula keeps to her word’ Zuko thought, ‘(Y/N) won’t even need to fight’. Flames soared by his face, the boy was quick to dodge, practically flying out of the flames. The fight had been going on for a few minutes, but to Zuko, it felt like hours. He was right, something in Azula snapped. Her attacks weren’t concentrated or thought out, but despite that, they were faster and hotter. 

Blasting away from the ground before he tumbled, he shot in the air, working up a fireball. He shot at his sister and watched as she split it in half but still got singed by the heat of it. She arose from the flames, smoke, and all. She laughed, slowly making Zuko tense up as it progressively got louder. 

“You’re nothing! You think your little friends are your new family,” Azula stumbled forward, making daggers of fire ignite in her fists, “well they’ll just stab you in the back! Just like so-called-friends always do!”

The princess sprinted forward, running and jumped over her brother who was sending short-range blasts at her as she hovered over him. She came down full force, attempting to dig the daggers into Zuko, intent to kill. Zuko blasted her away at the last minute, not aiding in your anxiety as an audience member. 

“Come on little Zuzu! Why don’t you give your sister a big hug,” Azula took another stab at her attack, wide arms following behind her as she sprinted towards the boy, “I’m celebrating becoming an only child!”

This time, Zuko easily deflected his sister, her attack was predictable and sloppy. He blasted her up and over him, she tumbled and fell to the ground, rolling several feet away. Smoke rose from her clothes as she heaved for air. Zuko looked on in extreme focus, hoping, wishing she would surrender.

He sighed as she stumbled into a standing position, holding her arm in pain. He knew he needed to break her down, waste her energy. Lightning. 

“How about some lightning Azula,” you looked at him in horror, remembering the last time in the cave in Ba Sing Se, “or are you afraid I’ll redirect it?” “Zuko… no,” whispering to yourself, you looked on in horror as Azula laughed. 

“Lighting? You want lightning,” Azula took graceful steps, much different than her previous attacks, and you knew she knew exactly what she was doing, “Zuzu be careful what you wish for...”

You watched the lightning accumulate in her hands, snapping your head to Zuko you saw him ready, close to the ground, and anticipating the strike. You sighed in relief, which may have been the worst thing you could’ve done. Azula’s eyes shot to you and a smile rose on her face as she shot the lighting from her fingertips speaking just loud enough for you to hear.

“...someone might get hurt."

Everything moved in slow motion, Zuko screamed your name as he dove in front of you, you moved the water from your hands, trying to throw up a water wall in front of him. 

“No!” You screamed as the lighting hit Zuko in the chest, the wall you were creating hadn’t formed in time. He blasted backward, slamming into you as you both slid, hitting a wall of the palace. Your head slammed back into the stone, and your vision blurred, ears ringing. You tried to focus, you could feel Zuko twitch every few seconds, the lightning jolting him as he took it all in. 

“Zuko, Zuko no,” You whispered to yourself as you pushed him off your lap and onto the floor. You could barely make out his facial features, you kept blinking hoping to clear your vision, “no! Come on, hey come on Zuko.” You felt tears run down your face, as you didn't get a response, and you couldn’t see his face. 

You bended water out of your pouch and immediately began to heal the boy. Feeling his chest with your hand, you found the wound warm and sparking with electricity, “Okay, I’m going to help okay? Okay.” 

At this point, you didn’t know if you were talking to Zuko or yourself. 

When you began to heal, your vision cleared, the healing properties helping you along with Zuko. When you focused in you could finally see his face, showing that he was most definitely alive. Alive and in pain. You don’t know if you want to see him or not anymore. 

You didn’t want to move your hands so you dipped your head down, touching your forehead to his as you whispered sweetly to him, “Hey, it’s me. You’re okay, it’s okay.” He looked at you from his position and used what strength he had to reach behind your head, “what, Zuko stop, please rest,” you felt pressure and a sharp sting on the back of your head when Zuko pulled his hand back. Red soaked his hand, and he looked at it with a pained expression. 

“... I tried… I didn’t..” he tried to speak as you continued healing him, obviously gaining more energy as you continued. You looked down at him surprised, “Zuko, you did everything you could, you saved me, you did. You really did, I swear,” tears dropped from you face onto his dirty one, washing away the soot on his cheeks. 

You watched him blink, his eyes getting heavy, “hey no, stay awake, Zuko please stay awake, man,” and you continued healing his chest. It should be giving him more strength, why is he passing out? “Hey come on, please,” You whispered, your forehead still resting on his as you tried to divert any energy you had to him, “please?” 

His eyes shut and he went limp, you started to panic, “no, no no no Zuko,” you raised your head and placed it by your hands and on his chest, sighing in relief when you heard his heartbeat. You turned your face, knowing you were still crying and you hovered it over his again, 

“I’m so sorry Zuko, I’m sorry,” you leaned down, your breath fanned over his face. You let your lips graze over his, hoping for any kind of response, but when he didn’t wake up you felt the tears fall faster, and you buried your face in his neck, letting him heal.

When you got a hold of yourself you raised your head, glaring out at Azula from across the courtyard. She heaved, breathing heavily as you made eye contact with her. You were surprised, to say the least, to see her looking guiltily at Zuko, but when she saw you glaring up at her, her face morphed back into her chaotic state. 

You continued to heal Zuko as you yelled from your seat, “what is wrong with you! Don’t you have morals? A heart?” Azula stood to her full height, trying to seem more intimidating as she slowly stepped toward you, “in this world, having a heart is a weakness. You can’t rule with a heart, you rule with your mind.” 

Your face had never made the grimace you were wearing before, it felt almost unnatural on your face. “No one will ever bow to you, you’ll be fighting an endless war,” you practically growled the words at her as she reached halfway to you. She suddenly stopped, “well you would know about an endless war…” You looked back down at Zuko, making sure he was okay before she spoke her next words,

“...you were there at the start.” 

Your head shot up, and you glared heavily at the princess, “...how…” She smiled, “when I was younger, my mother read me stories to try and get me to sleep. Silly mother really, I only stayed awake to piss her off,” she examined her hands with a wild smile, “but after our little fight at The Boiling Rock, I did some research and you reminded me of a story I once heard about a little water bender who died in a swamp.”

You tried to buy yourself more time to heal Zuko, but no matter how much you tried to not be influenced by her words, you listened. She continued, “In my story, the water bender committed a crime. Taking secrets from the fire nation intending on taking them back to the water tribe, so they could overthrow the fire lord.” You stuttered, “That’s- That’s not what…”

She shook her head, “no it’s okay it has a happy ending,” you looked surprised, “she ran and got chased by the fire nation soldiers, and she took refuge in a swamp. She froze ten soldiers in ice, leaving them to freeze and die. But one soldier broke free and stabbed her in the heart, stopping her from revealing the secrets of the fire nation. Even while she was dying she tried to kill the fire nation soldier but was unsuccessful as she passed before the soldier drowned in the bubble she had trapped him in. The soldier returned home to his family, and was promoted to general,” she smiled, “see a happy ending.” 

You grimaced at her, “You… you used me as propaganda…” you felt tears running down your face, “you made me a… a villain?” She started to approach you again and you immediately stood, stepping away from Zuko and toward the girl, making her stutter and stop walking, obviously expecting you to stay stagnant. 

You screamed at her through tears, “I SAVED HIM! I saved the soldier, he stabbed me in the chest, he KILLED ME and I saved his life!” Azula seemed surprised at your confession, but she didn’t falter as you approached her. In comparison, you seemed like the crazy bitch now, screaming and crying, “I didn’t steal your damned secrets, I saved my father because you assholes took him for not following orders from a general he didn’t reside under! I saved him and you hunted. me. down. A child.” 

You approached the girl, your noses almost touching as the water formed around your arms again, ready for the attack, and you felt your veins grow hot. Azula looked at you with a stone-cold face, but you could see in her eyes as she raked over your arms and eyes, she saw something that you couldn't see but you could definitely feel. Your eyes glowed the same as your veins, raw energy flowing through them as you practically breathed the same air as the princess. 

“But you still want to call me a villain? I know a real villain when I see one, and I think you need to take a look in the mirror, asshole.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, comet time :)
> 
> Let's hope that you guys like this, I hope I can write action and drama! Also sorry if it feels like it's too similar to the show, for some parts it was hard not to have it in, but I tried! 
> 
> I'm writing the second part soon/now, so if you have any feedback or comments, you might not see changes until after the comet arc, but I read ALL the comments! Trust me it's what keeps me going with this story to hear how much you guys like it!


	23. The Comet Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight continues

Water began accumulating at your feet, streams filling the cracks of the stone courtyard floor. It wrapped around your legs, moving like a snake as you felt yourself grow hotter. Azula was caught off guard, you could tell, but nothing would stop her in this state. Her hands lit up, flames swallowing the pristine nails, but the girl didn’t get the chance to strike.

You blasted yourself in the air, moving the pillar to come crashing down on the fire bender. She flipped out of the way, already ready to fight, flying around the courtyard on skates made of fire. You hovered in the air, your menacing pillar of water cling to you like a magnet as you watched the fire bender run, “So you’ll throw lightning at your own brother,” you smirked down at her, your eyes making the look more crazed than you’d ever be able to pull off, “but your going to run from little ole’ me?” You pouted at her, egging her on, making her boil.

And it worked, it worked too easy.

Azula’s face scrunched up, and you started to see the family resemblance to your favorite fire bender. The fact only makes you stutter for a second before you bulk up your arms again, ready for the onslaught that Azula was sure to bring. 

She wasted no time using the enhanced power from The Great Comet, igniting her hands into an incinerating blast. The fire flung toward your perch on top of the water pillar, but you didn’t falter. Slipping down, you enveloped yourself in the sleeve of water, dropping yourself all the way to the stone floor, and in doing so, completely dodging the flames. You let out your held breath as you stepped forward and out of the water. The element stuck to your arms, staying put as your normal water bulk, and you watched the princess waste her energy blasting at nothing. 

Steam filled the air as the flames evaporated the water, giving you an opening. Azula circled the little area she could see as the steam rolled over her and blocked the entire courtyard from her sight. She began to sweat, weather from the heated steam or the unknown whereabouts of her opponent, she’d say the former.

A light caught her eyes, not making it obvious she observed it out of the corner of her eye. Two lights lit up through the steam, and soon two glowing hands to match. Azula watched as they got closer before turning suddenly and igniting her hands once again.

But she didn’t get the chance.

Her legs were pulled out from under her, giant arms of water held her ankles as she smacked into the ground, a wet thump onto the bricks. She sputtered and gasped trying to get her breath as the steam began to settle on the ground revealing you slowly lower your arms with the steam. When it had all dissipated you stepped forward, standing above her. 

You smiled down at her, but even Azula could tell it was off. She tried to take another swing at you when you were so close but her arms were restrained similarly to her ankles. Suddenly your smile was gone, and your eyebrows furrowed as if you’d changed your mind just like that.

“You almost killed him,” you started, “you almost killed your brother… do you care at all?”

Azula looked up at you, and stared into your eyes before smiling, “... what’s there to care about?” Suddenly, flames erupted from all her appendages, breaking the holds on her wrists and ankles. You jumped back without any hesitation as you grimaced as the girl, “How heartless are you?!” You screamed at her as she continued to blow fire, rising into a battle stance.

A groan sounded from behind you, and you whipped your head over to the noise. Zuko was starting to sit up, seemingly waking up from his blackout. Your eyes burned seeing him get up, you turned to face him smiling, tears welling in your eyes. The searing warmth in your veins began to cool, and you took one step toward the boy, “Zuko…” you whispered.

“I’ll show you heartless…”

Your eyes widened, and the world slowed as you snapped your head to the side as you watched Azula ignite her hands and throw them toward Zuko. The heat rose in you again just like that, stemming from your heart as you ran in front of the flames. You weren’t letting her get him twice.

You screamed as the heat hit you just before you were able to wrap yourself with a thick wall of water, cooling the heat, and stopping the assault on Zuko. The flames let up and you looked at the girl again through the wall of water. Watching the princess for her next move, you caught a glimpse of your reflection in the water. 

Your eyes were ablaze, and it followed into the veins of your hands, until all of your hands glowed blue, even up your arm. Normally you’d be worried about this new look, but you didn’t have time to critique as you saw Azula make her next move. 

“What? You wanna protect your boyfriend,” She screamed from the other side of the yard before she ignited blazing daggers in her hands again and smiled, “I’m just making sure you aren’t wasting your time!” Her smile dropped as you watched her feet steam as they dried up water on the stone, “they’ll only leave you in your time of need.”

She sprang forward, skating at an alarming speed toward you, trying to dodge the wall of water. You saw her path, she tried skating past you and headed to Zuko. You grimaced at the sight, building as much water as you could to blast in her direction. If she wasn’t so crazed, she might’ve been able to dodge your simple attack, but Azula was off track.

Her body slammed into a tall wall of one of the planters that littered the courtyard, you felt like you could hear the crack of some body part, but it didn’t seem to affect you as you approached her now slumped body. The closer you got to her, the more your vision blanked and soon, everything was black.

Zuko had woken up. He propped himself on the wall that you two had slid to, blinking as he tried to clear his vision. The first thing that came into focus was his bloodied hand, his mind floating back to touching the back of your head. He grimaced at the thought of you behind hurt but shook off the feelings, heaving himself up to stand. 

He squinted, seeing two figures, one on the ground and one approaching the other. He rubbed his face standing. ‘Where is she,’ he thought to himself, trying to look at the figures, ‘which one’. He shuffled closer, the shock of Azula's lightning still ran through him, his muscles sore but he was surprised to even be alive at the moment. No doubt in his mind you used all your energy to heal him, making him more worried as he finally focused on the situation across the courtyard. 

Zuko watched you walk up to his sister, grabbing her arms and propping her up. The first thing he noticed was the state of your hands, glowing like cave crystals, as it grew up your arms and ended in your eyes. What… happened to you? He continued to walk forward, trying to reach you, but then stopped in shock. 

Originally you looked like you were helping her, but it wasn’t until Azula began to float that he realized you had her restrained by balls of ice, effectively stopping her from bending. You held your hand out in front of you, holding her in the air and binding her feet with the ice boulders as well. Zuko was close enough to hear you talking, or at least your mouth was moving, but it didn't sound like you at all.

“She saved the soldier in my swamp, she even saved your brother..,” your voice no longer sounded as sweet as it used to, instead it was rough and unnatural, “...but who will save you?”

Azula looked down in horror as you bubbled up her head, watching as the bubbles rose and retreated from her mouth, floating to the top. Your face was stern, unnatural to you as you watched her. She flailed and screamed, crazed and jagged movements made a terrifying scene for you normally, but instead, you just watched with glowing eyes, unphased by the girl in front of you. 

Plants that grew in the walls behind the girl crawled over the edge, winding around the fire bender's arms and upper body, restraining her even further. The bubbles that came out of the girl's mouth began to slow, and seemingly you had won.

“(Y/N)!” 

Without stopping you snapped your head to the voice, finding Zuko stumbling toward you from a distance. He limped but still held the energy to hold himself up now. You felt the blood in your veins cool down, as you watched the boy walk the courtyard. 

“(Y/N), stop!”

Your body had cooled, confused you squinted at the boy, not knowing what he was talking about, before you followed your hands up to the girl in front of you who was still writhing in the plant's hold, unable to even move her body at this point.

“Holy shit,” You dropped the water immediately, the girl fell out of the air, no longer suspended by your bending. The vines and leaves went limp, tearing and hanging over the wall in the direction of the girl as she collided with the ground. She coughed and sputtered on the floor, trying to get the water out of her lungs.

You stepped back, horror written on your face, “I- I’m sorry, I,” You turned to look at Zuko with tears in your eyes, “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t…” He looked at Azula, writhing on the ground, her hands still bound by solid ice. He walked over to you, steady hands, “it’s okay, that, whoever it was, that wasn’t you.” 

You nodded, “t-that wasn’t me… it wasn’t,” you sobbed and turned to face him. 

He was still several feet away from you when he suddenly realized the coughing from Azula had stopped and no noise hit his ears but your ragged sobbing breaths. 

He was one second too late.

Her hands sopping wet from melting her restraints, Azula grabbed onto your arms, making you scream, surprised by the attack. She tackled you to the ground hovering above you and held tight to your biceps as she burned through your clothes, heat blistering your skin under her hands, “You might be right about one thing...,” she smiled at you as you withered under her, the smell of your burning arms making you want to vomit.

“... I am the villain.”

She blasted you away, your body was limp with lack of energy. You ragdolled across the courtyard, Zuko’s screams the only other noise filling the space other than the thumps of your body rolling on the ground. You crashed into a pillar, hitting your head in the same spot that you’d hit the palace walls. 

Zuko watched in horror from a distance as your body went limp, unmoving. He… He told you to stop. He stopped you. He distracted you… fuck. His stomach dropped as he continued watching you from a distance. Until he saw movement from beside him.

Azula, smiling and laughing, held blazing daggers made of blue fire out of her hand as she stumbled toward you, gaining speed as she went. Her footsteps picked up the pace, as well as her laughs as they pittered against the cold wet stone of the courtyard. 

She was almost there, she had almost done it. 

A rope of chain hit her chest, knocking the wind out of the fire bender and probably breaking a few ribs. Zuko watched from the other end of the chain, heaving as he caught his breath while sharp pains hit his chest with every wheeze. He watched her tumble a foot away as she curled into herself, the daggers extinguished. 

With every ounce of strength he had, he ran to his sister and wrapped her in the heavy chains. She squirmed and yelled, “She’ll leave you! She’ll leave and never come back! Everyone does,” she kicked while Zuko created a blaze, heating it as much as he could, “she’s not different!” 

Zuko spoke low as he melted the chains around her hands and body, leaving nothing to bend, “she’s different, but the one thing that’s different in all of this,” he finished restraining her and flipped her on the girls back, stepping on her chest, “is that I’m not you.”

He stepped away and turned to your limp body, and almost began running before he turned to face her, “And if you lay a hand on her ever again,” he squinted, “I won’t be so gracious,” and he was gone, leaving the princess to her anguish.

Sprinting over to the pillar, his stomach dropped at the sight of red on the pillar where you had hit your head. He crouched beside you and rolled you on your back. Holding a hand under your nose he leaned down, putting his ear up to your chest. He almost choked, as he sobbed in relief hearing a heartbeat from your chest, and feeling you breathe through your nose. 

He shook you slightly, trying not to hurt you any more than you already are, “hey, hey (Y/N) wake up… please wake up.” Your eyes fluttered open, shaky and unfocused but you managed to look up at the fire bender, who had tears falling down his face. Your beautiful eyes were back, the natural hue alone making his heart tighten. You smiled up at him, wincing as you reached up to grab his face, “...hey what’re you cryin’ for?” Your voice was soft, barely there, but the fact you cared so much made him cry even more. 

You grimaced as you laid your arm back down, and it was then that Zuko realized the burns that you had on both your arms. He made a face at the marks, knowing that you couldn’t heal them in your current state, and that they would scar over, similar to his own. You were watching his face as the thoughts ran through his head and followed his gaze to the burns on your arms.

Trying to lighten the mood you joked softly, “heh they’re gonna be pretty cool right…” looking away from your arms you saw that he started crying again, “hey, it’s okay…” You felt yourself fading out again, and reached up with what little energy you had left, the pain on your arms overwhelming a lot of your senses, “...we won…” 

You wiped his tear away with your thumb, and then let your hand fall back beside you, trying to be gentle with the burn on your upper bicep. When it fell you saw your vision start to fade again, the pain in the back of your head became numb, “...we won…”

He laid his head on your chest, taking a moment to just breath. He shot up and grabbed you in his arms. There wasn’t any time for him to mess around, he needed to get you help immediately. Looking around at the palace, he found it hard to focus with the tears building in his eyes, but he still ran. 

He tucked you father into himself, and hoped that he wasn’t hiring you more than he thinks he already has. He ran into the palace hoping that his childhood knowledge of the place will help him find the healing wing. 

‘Hang on (Y/N).’

\---

The feeling of shuffling around you is what you remember waking up to. Your eyelashes fluttered as you blinked, trying to focus on the light that streamed into the room. You looked around you first, and found the room unfamiliar. The walls were polished and clean, but looked awfully similar to the fire nation architecture you had been ogling before. You felt the shuffling again and pointed your eyes down. 

Aang was patting your blanket, smoothing it out and admiring it from a step away before moving it up to cover more of your body and smoothing it out again. You tried to laugh at the sight, but your body didn’t really want to do anything.

“I must be getting the special treatment,” you said softly, almost whispering, “the avatar is my nurse.” 

Aang laughed a little, “I wouldn’t say…” His eyes suddenly shot to you, surprised, “(Y/N)!” You managed to huff out a laugh at that one, “who else?” He smiled big and you couldn’t help but return the smile. He stood back and basically hopped to stand beside your head.

You turned to face him, but a numb feeling on the back of your head gave you an uncomfortable feeling. You grimaced at the numbness and reached behind your head, your hand meeting cloth and finding that it wrapped around to your forehead too. You settled your arm back down, realizing that the numbness reached down to your upper arms. Bandages covered your biceps, and the memory of Azula's attack came back full force. You surprised yourself by just dismissing the thought, the pain was gone, what's there to worry about. Aang looked at you sheepishly, “Zuko said you hit your head pretty hard,” you listened to the boy, “Katara managed to heal some of it, but it probably still feels weird.”

You nodded which probably wasn’t the best of ideas as you grew dizzy for a split second. You leaned back, trying to steady the world around you. When all the walls were back in place you looked back up at the avatar, “what happened?”

Aang shrugged, “You’ll have to ask Zuko, he wasn’t really communicating when he-” You waved your hand, and laughed, “No I mean with Ozai, what happened with you? I thought you disappeared.” Aang rubbed his neck, looking away from you as if he’d done something wrong, before bowing his head, “I’m sorry, that’s a long story but… we won.” He smiled up at you and you looked at him in awe. 

Your eyes began to water and before you knew it, you were sobbing, “we won?” Aang laughed and nodded at you, “we won.” You laughed through your tears, trying to calm yourself down as a throbbing started going through your head.

Everything was over. We won. 

You held your arms out for the avatar, who immediately embraced you as well. You sighed in the hug, relief flooding your body. When you released him, you dried your face.

“Where is everybody?” You weren’t expecting all of them to wait for you to wake up, honestly you were just curious. And maybe curious about a certain fire bender. Aang shrugged, “Everyone is getting ready for the ceremony tomorrow, tomorrow we reunite the nations,” he smiled, looking away from a moment in thought. You smiled, knowing that you couldn’t wait. 

“Oh, Zuko is going to be so mad,” he thought out loud and only continued when he saw your confused face, “he’s been waiting for you to wake up since Katara healed you.” He sighed remembering, “we had to beg him to leave for a while to bathe and sleep,” and he turned to you, “and you woke up when he was gone.” You raised your hand in surrender, “hey don’t blame me.”

The two of you laughed for a second before he stood, “I should probably go get him, although it’s only been a few hours since we were able to get him away.” You grabbed his hand and shook your head no, “don’t wake him up, he doesn’t get enough sleep as is.” Aang looked at you and then nodded smiling slightly, “yeah, okay.”

You smiled back up at the boy and then turned yourself, “okay now help me up.” Aang looked at you surprised, “talk about rest! (Y/N) you just woke up!” You shook your head, only getting a little dizzy at the motion as you pulled yourself off the bed with the aid of the air bender, “look,” you stood next to him and looked down at him.

“I was there when this war started and I’m telling you,” you smiled at him, “I won’t miss the end of it even if my life was on the line.” 

Aang stared up at you as if his gaze would change your mind before sighing, “fine.” You smiled, and held onto his arm as he started walking, “I’ll take you to the girls, they’ll be happy to see you up.” You looked forward at the boy as you walked out of the room, each footstep grounding you and proving that this is reality.

You smiled as you walked through the archway, the weight of the world was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this might be really rough, action is apparently really hard for me to write whoops
> 
> The war might be over, but this story has a couple chapters in it still, so don't panic yet!


	24. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You all prepared for the ceremony, but Zuko has something to tell you.

“I’m surprised we could even scrounge up this outfit.” 

You examined yourself in a mirror, turning and fixing parts of the ensemble so it rested on your body, “like, how do you find water tribe ceremonial wear in the fire nation on such short notice?” Holding your arms out, you smiled at the way the flared sleeves followed your motions, the layered outfit shifting with the motion. 

The top of the gown went all the way up your neck, much like a tight turtleneck. The tight material went all the way down to your hands, covered by a thick baggy poncho that led down to fur-lined sleeves. You admired the old designs of the water tribe that accented the bottom of the gown that met your feet, similar to the ones that showed on the poncho as well. A slit rode up the side of your left leg giving view to the pants you adorned underneath the ensemble, in true water tribe fashion. 

Katara looked up at you, stopping her pinning of Toph’s hair and shrugged, “to be honest, I have no clue.” You nodded, patting the stomach of the dress where it cinched where a cloth belt was tied, “even you and Sokka, are wearing earth nation sourced stuff.” The water bender watched you twirl around and smiled, “It kind of looks like something Gran-Gran would wear…” you looked at her with a grimace, and she laughed going back to fixing up the earth bender’s hair, “I’m just saying, maybe they found it from before the war.”

You sighed, turning back to the mirror, “Well I am around her age…” making Katara cringe. You watched her through the mirror as she sighed, “it’s… weird when you say it like that.” Laughing out loud, you walked over and sat on a bed by Suki, who was doing her makeup, “Aw, I thought you like the weirdly old-but-young people.” Katara blushed a little, knowing you meant a certain bald boy who had just saved the world, “... shut up.” 

The girls paused, getting ready for a moment to laugh before Suki turned to you, “I think you look great (Y/N),” she bumped shoulders with you. You laughed a little but thanked the Kyoshi warrior, “you all look amazing,” you hopped up and threw your hands in the air, “Ahh, I’m so excited to see the nations unite!” 

You whispered-yelled, and continued to punch the air, as the girls laughed. Katara giggled a bit and put the final pin in Toph's hair before turning to pin her own back with a pink flower, “I’m glad it’s all over, but,” she smiled and sighed, “I’m happier that everyone made it out.”

You nodded and Toph spoke up, “yeah you really gave a scare, doc,” she looked over in your direction and spoke quietly, “I could barely tell if you were alive when we got here.” You looked at her shocked and looked at the other girls who were a little more somber than before as they continued to get ready. You didn’t know that you were that bad.

Walking up to the earth bender you sat shoulder to shoulder next to her, bumping into her and smiling, “well, hey I’m fine…” you jokingly pulled her close and tight, “see I’m all strong now and everything.” The downtrodden look she had for a minute disappeared, and she laughed at the attempt, “Nah you’re still a weakling!” You faked a scoff, “oh yeah? What about,” you wrapped your other arm around her and squeezed as hard as your numb injuries would let you, “this!” The girl laughed and you smiled down at her, glad she had forgotten about the subject of you being hurt.

You let go of her and sighed, falling back on the bed trying not to ruin your hair or clothes as you did so. Looking at Suki and Katara upside down from where you were laying, you smiled, “you know…” you sighed again, “I think I’m going to miss our anxiety-filled adventures.” Suki nodded, “yeah, I don’t think anything will compare to reuniting the world.” 

You all giggled, Katara thought for a moment, “what do you guys think you’ll do?” You gazed at her, still upside down on the bed, “what we’ll do?” Dropping your gaze you stared at the ceiling in thought, listening to the other girls. Toph sighed, “I’m sure I’ll have to go see my parents,” but she held a finger up, “but I won’t let them treat me like a baby anymore, I mean we saved the world! And I’m coming back, I don’t think these boneheads could stand to be away from me.” You laughed but nodded at the earth bender, knowing she’s just as strong as she says she is, and she’s as right as ever, you’d miss her.

“I’ll go back to Kyoshi Island,” you glanced back up at Suki, “I need to help train the next Kyoshi warriors.” You made a thumbs up at her and she laughed a little, but you admired her dedication to the island before listening in to Katara. 

“We won’t know what the future holds really but…” she looked at herself in the mirror, “we’ll need people to help rebuild the world, so that’s where I’ll be.” You gazed at her with a smile, Katara was always such a great leader in your head, but you couldn’t help but tease her, “that and you wanna spend more time with your boyfriend.”

She sighed before looking at you with raised eyebrows, “oh and what are you going to do after all this, (Y/N)?” Your smile faltered and you sweated a little bit, “uh I don’t know…” She looked surprised, obviously expecting you to say something about the new Firelord, but you just kept talking, “I, uh, I don’t really have any family to go see…” Your friends look at you with pity, but your own words didn’t really affect you. You looked to the ceiling and squinted your eyes, and then just shrugged, looking around at your friends, “I guess I don’t have a plan.” 

Your scan over your friends' expressions left you confused, “...what’d I say? Katara just shook her head, before offering a suggestion, “you could always stay with us and help rebuild, you know?” You propped yourself up, your neck beginning to strain from the position you were in, and turned smiling at the girl, “that doesn’t sound too bad, does it.” She smiled back at you, but it became devilish as she continued, “and you’ll have more time to spend with the Firelord if you're helping him…”

Your face grew red, and you held up a finger, “hey! I’ll be spending time with everyone,” you crossed your arms and turned a little, “not just him.” The girls all laughed at you and you covered your face with your hands, the bigger sleeves of the dress finally had another purpose other than just making you sweat. 

A knock saved you from more embarrassment, everyone looking over to the sound. Katara went to answer it, opening the door to reveal the avatar who blushed at the sigh of the water bender in front of him. Clearing his throat he ripped his eyes away from Katara who just huffed a laugh at his obvious behavior, “are you guys all ready? We can start heading to the courtyard.” 

Your friends filed out of the room, excitedly talking about the ceremony to come, but Aang stopped you by the door. You threw a questioning glance at him, “what’s up?” He sheepishly looked away, “could you possibly go get Zuko,” the boy must’ve seen the confusion in your eyes because he just continued talking, “I woke him up a few and he was like, SUPER mad at me for not doing it earlier… so could you?” He smiled up at you as if you needed more coercing to find the fire bender, but you just laughed and nodded, “I’ll go, you don’t have to beg.”

Aang sighed in relief, and pointed down the hallway, “he should be in his room finishing getting ready, we still have a little bit of time so you should be fine.” He gave you some directions to the prince's room and sent you on your way, the girls waved as you headed down the hallway. 

“Don’t kiss him too much!” 

You just held up a certain finger for your friends as you rounded a corner.

\---

“...a right, then a left at the dragon statue…” 

You held a finger up to your mouth in thought, the dragon statue sitting in front of you looked like it was staring at you. You looked passed it and found another dragon statue at the other end of the hall and started to sweat. ‘...shit’ you thought to yourself as you contemplated which hallway to go down. 

You sighed and rubbed your face, trying not to mess up the bit of makeup you had on, and mumbled to yourself, “why did he send me…” 

“...where did she go!? She was right here?.... What do you mean she LEFT?” 

You picked your head up at the yelling. Looking down the hall you saw the very room you woke up in, the natural light shining out of it. That wasn’t what mattered though because you recognized the voice better than the room. You took a quick step forward before almost stumbling to a stop.

Out of the archway ran the very boy you were looking for. He was out of breath, huffing, and looking around dramatically. You would’ve laughed at his flare but you were stuck in your spot, unable to move. He was dressed in fancy robes, assumedly for the ceremony, you were all to attend, and you couldn’t decide if you liked his hair up or down anymore. He continued to spin around the hallways, looking as if he was trying to choose which one to run down, been there, done that.

Suddenly his head snapped to you, and you almost had an urge to raise your hands in surrender with the intensity of his gaze. You both locked eyes and as if a spell had been broken, you took a step forward. The steps started slow but gradually grew faster, the pattering of covered feet being the only sound filling the hallways. He did the same and step by step, you soon found the two of you running toward each other. You had a huge smile on your face as you ran toward him and even started laughing, making him smile too.

You were close, both of you kept your eyes locked as you reached out to grab the fire bender. You both collided in the middle of the hallway, smacking into each other at full force knowing it would hurt but you weren't wasting any time away from each other anymore. Zuko grabbed onto you and mimicked your laugh as you wrapped your arms around him, using the momentum of the embrace to swing you around in a circle, holding on to you tightly. You flew through the air a little more than you had thought, Zuko was stronger than he looked. Nothing was said and only laughter filled the hallway as your feet finally hit the floor, the only thing you could think of was holding him tight. 

Eventually, you pulled away a little to look at his face, but the smile that began to hurt your face turned into laughter as your eyes met, and you embarrassingly buried your face into his chest. Zuko sighed and buried his face into his favorite place on your neck, his breath fanning over your cloth-covered neck as he tried to get his breath back. His action pushed your head up, your ear now resting against his neck as he bent down into the embrace. He subconsciously rubbed your back, trying to soothe you out of your laughing hysterics and you could hear the rumble of a laugh come from his throat. 

When you finally relaxed and pulled away, you held him an arm's length away from you and finally looked him in the eye, “miss me, princey?” Looking at you softly for a minute, he actually absorbed what you said and sighed rolling his eyes, his face getting red, before he mumbled, “yes…” You expected him to jab back at you, but at the confession, your smile faltered and you could feel your face heat up. You looked up into his eyes and said softly, “I wasn’t going anywhere,” before smiling bigger, “can’t get rid of me that easy.”

The fire bender sighed, “it’s just seeing you in that bed…” he suddenly stepped away from your eyes wide, “(Y/N), your arms!” You looked down as if you would’ve been able to see your bandages, but they were covered by your sleeves, "what, they're still there-" “I didn’t hurt you did I,” his hands hovered over your arms but never touched them like they were glass, you’d never seen him so worried. 

You giggled a bit as he continued to rant and mumble about your injuries, and you brought your arm up as if to show him your muscles, “hey I’m doing great,” you smacked your arms where the bandages were. Zuko sucked in air at the motion and cringed, before realizing you hadn’t hurt yourself, “thank the sun…”

You huffed another laugh at him before your smile dropped while looking down at his chest, reaching out a hand to rest on the center of it. Zuko’s face flushed at the contact and the serious nature of your face, and almost looked away when your gaze met his. “...are you okay?” You said too softly and too sweetly for Zuko to handle, and he coughed into his hand and tore his eyes from your own, “yeah, I’m great.” 

Your hand seemed to linger for a moment before you pulled away, flushed yourself. You scratched the back of your head before smiling again, “Hey, we need to get to the courtyard before 'Firelord Zuko' misses his own ceremony.” 

It’s something Zuko would never say out loud, but the name ‘Firelord Zuko’ coming out of your mouth made millions of butterflies flutter in his stomach. He started walking ahead of you, your hand in his as he semi-marched to the courtyard, “YEP better get going!” You kept up his quicker-than-walking pace and laughed a little seeing the tips of his ears and the back of his neck glowing red. You filed that information in your head for future use.

You two walked in silence, and you admired his robes from the side as you kept pace by his side, “You look really official,” you looked up at his face that was still very pink, “very ‘Firelord-y’.” He looked down at you, confused, “uh thank you… I think?” You laughed a little, “You look very handsome, Zuko.” The pink on his cheeks stayed there as he thanked you and looked straight ahead again as you continued walking beside him.

“You look beautiful.” 

You looked up at him, surprised at the compliment, only to find him looking straight ahead, eyes shooting to you for a second. You smiled up at him, looking ahead yourself as you squeezed his hand in thanks.

When you guys had made it to the others, they giggled as they watched you hold hands, both of your faces red. You shimmied your hand out of Zuko’s grip, trying to not draw attention to yourself, and he looked down as you with a frown before realizing he was pouting.

Sokka came over and put his hands on both of you guy’s shoulders, “what took you guys so long?” He looked at Zuko with knowing eyes, while the fire bender just looked away flushed, and you sighed. You aimed your eyes at Aang, “well someone gave me some pretty garbage directions,” and you watched the avatar shrug. “Hey you found him anyway,” and he put his hands up in surrender, “I’d say that’s a win.” 

You sighed and smiled at him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders before giving him a shake, “you know, you might’ve just reunited the world but you’re still shorter than me.” He laughed with you and tried to shove you away, effectively getting out of your grasp with a little air bending. “Cheater,” you yelled at him as he laughed and walked away, sticking your tongues at each other. 

All the others laughed and began to get into their formation to present to the world. You all stood in front of the door, waiting for the signal to go in and you turned to Zuko. Now facing him, you patted his arm, smiling up at him “good luck.” He smiled at you and then as if he just realized something, a new expression came over his face.

He nervously bent down to speak into your ear, “I need to talk to you,” and you looked around for a second confused at the timing, but he just laughed a little, his breath brushing against your ear almost making you miss the next word, “later.” You knew your face was pink but you just smiled up at him, and nodded, watching him walk beside Aang through the door, up in front of the nations. 

As you watched him stand beside the avatar, you felt your chest settle. A warmth you’d never felt before ran through your body and you’d never forget the way the setting sun highlighted his features. You looked away, just in time to miss him glancing back at you. 

He ran his gaze over your figure, resting his eyes on your face as you excitedly listened to Aang speak to the crowd. He smiled ever so slightly as the sun made you glow in the light, making you look golden. He flushed and looked away as he noticed his gaze lingering on your lips, turning back to the courtyard, the butterflies calming. 

At that moment, you knew you loved him.

And he knew he loved you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost over guys :,) 
> 
> I know this chapter is a little short, but I'm hoping and praying that the next chapter is long enough to serve as a finale! So I may have cut this one a little short for the sake of the end!
> 
> I really adore all your comments, you are too nice to me and my writing but they're what motivated me to finish this and I will write that last chapter, don't worry!


	25. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the end of the story.

“(Y/N)!” 

You looked up at the sound of your name and met Zuko’s eyes as he ran over to you, leaving fire nation officials behind him. 

The ceremony had gone amazing, and you'd be lying if you said you hadn’t shed a tear during the whole ordeal. Who could blame you? You watched this war started, you watched it take people, take friends, take family. And it’s all over now.

Obviously the end of the war is world-changing, but it kinda left you pondering. Since this morning, you’d been thinking about what’s to come, and the conversation that you had with the girls just made it even worse. So while everyone was mingling and celebrating, you had kinda zoned out on a couch, sipping on some tea.

You stood up smiling as Zuko approached you, admiring his official robes once again. “Hey Firelord,” Zuko sighed a little, and you giggled knowing the joke was getting old, “looks like you’re already knee-deep in fire nation official business.” 

The boy nodded and pulled you away from your couch thoughts, a gentle hand on your back guided you out and onto the terrace as he spoke, “yeah, it’s pretty exhausting. We just saved the world, you know,” you reached the railing that lined the terrace. The fire bender leaned his weight on it and you did the same, resting your head on your hand to look at him, “I wanna experience the new world too.” 

You huffed a laugh at him, “it must be rough, but hey, you’ve got your people beside you right,” you looked out at the fire nation town that surrounded the palace, “and it’s nice to be where you're needed… I’m not sure where I’m meant to go.” You sighed and faced him again, seeing his face change at your words, “Katara told me I could stay here with everyone, but I don’t know what I could do to help around here…,” you rubbed your face and sighed, smiling up at him, “I’m not trying to be a bummer, I really am happy for you… just a little jealous.” 

Zuko listened to every word you said, soaking in your doubts about yourself before looking out at the horizon, “that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” Surprised, you looked up at him again, your weight lightened on the railing, “...really?” 

The fire bender continued to look away from you and nodded, clearing his throat, “I just wanted to ask if… I don’t know, I mean we talked about it before... I just…,” he mumbled to himself and flushed a little. You couldn’t help but laugh at his stubborn way of walking around a question, and covered your smile with your hand, “Zuko.” 

He stopped mumbling, looked at you, and sighed. Standing away from the railing he stood up straight and reached out to grab your shoulders, surprising you. You turned to face him despite the confusion and smiled as he started to speak. 

“Will you stay with me,” he asked and you could feel your face flush at the words, “I need you here, they all need you here.” 

He lifted his hand off your shoulder and gestures to your friends in the room attached to the terrace. You felt his one hand tighten on your shoulder, “I’m going to find my mother,” he looked back at you, “after everything is settled, I’m going to find her and I want your help.” A little smile rose to his face, “I mean, how else will you ask her how she raised such a ‘loser son’?” 

You huffed a laugh at the prince before shaking out of his grasp and wrapping your arms around him, “okay, okay, I’ll stay. How could I say no when the Firelord himself asked me?” Said Firelord sighed as he wrapped his arms around you, “if you keep saying things like that I’m gonna take it back.” You laughed into his chest, and you felt his own laugh through the vibrations. 

It felt nice to be in the boy’s arms, the setting sun kept you warm from the chilly evening air. When the laughter faded and you unwillingly tried to step away, but the boy held you captive, and you could hear his heartbeat pick up speed. Concerned, you tried to look up at him, but a hand rose from your back and held your head down to Zuko’s chest, away from gazing at the boy, “Zuko? are you oka-”

“I need to tell you something else,” you grew worried at the words, what could he possibly need to say that would make him this worried, “just give me a second.” You did as he asked, knowing that trying to help him would just make it worse. Plus who are you to complain about being in the fire bender’s arms? Okay, enough.

You felt him take a deep breath from the resting place of your head on his chest, readying yourself for his words, whatever they may be. Your heart hit similar speeds to his own as he leaned down next to your ear to whisper. 

“(Y/N), I’m-”

“(Y/N)! Aang said he needed you!”

Zuko relaxed his body and groaned at the interruption, his forehead falling onto your shoulder. You lifted your head from his chest, the hand that held it captive was now resting at the base of your neck, dramatically limp. You turned your head, still being used as a weight rest for the prince, and watched Katara walk up to you. 

She smiled at you as if you’d been the one to take down Ozai, a gleam in her eye that said congrats. You looked at her weirdly before stepping away from the fire bender, letting him pull himself back into a standing position, “yeah? What for?” The water bender shrugged, “He wouldn’t tell me, just insisted that you go talk to him.” 

You sighed and rubbed your forehead, turning to the Firelord, “tell me later?” Although he looked exhausted and disappointed, Zuko nodded and followed you into the palace room when you started to approach the Avatar. 

“Aang, what’s up,” you walked up to him but his gaze didn’t falter from the water bender that had stayed back on the terrace. Without losing focus he waved his hand at the two of you, “oh uh, nothing. Anyway, gotta go!” The air bender almost ran over to Katara, only slowing down when he reached her. 

You watched him go with a disbelieving look on your face, “oh my moon, that sly kid.” Zuko grimaced at the sight, his mouth slack, “did he really just do that?”You laughed a little before turning to the fire bender, “I guess,” you shrugged, “I honestly should’ve seen something like this coming.” Zuko sighed in agreement, and the two of you walked a little more into the room to give the two kids some privacy.

Sitting on the couch where you were having a life crisis not even thirty minutes before, you sank into the back of it, exhaustion hitting you. You looked up at Zuko who was in a similar position to you, he must’ve been completely depleted with all the things he had to sign off on today, but you asked anyway, “so what did you wanna say?” Zuko’s eyes widened and he coughed a little, “oh uh, I’ll tell you later… It’s not important.” You scoffed and leaned forward, “with the little drama show you put on out there? I think it is,” you put a hand on his thigh, and put yourself in his view, “Zuko don't hold back on me.” Zuko looked at you in the eye, a flush rose back up to his cheeks. He had just opened his mouth to speak when someone called out to him.

You watched him furrow his brows as a grimace came to his face again, his head falling back on the couch in exasperation. Despite the annoyance, he looked over at the officials who bowed, asking for his presence at another meeting. His gaze fluttered to you for a second, and you smiled, “Hey, get on up.” Zuko sighed but did what you told him to, and you watched him walk away with the officials, already discussing another diplomatic ordeal. 

You smiled as he disappeared around the corner, and you found yourself alone on the couch again, your tea had grown cold. You sighed, a little disappointed that Zuko had to leave but you smiled at the memory of your conversation. 

“I need you here…”

Your face flushed and you squirmed a little in your seat. It felt nice to be needed. You missed the several sets of eyes that rested on you from around the room and even the silence that filled the area as well. Only until you opened your eyes to see Sokka standing in front of you smiling. You jumped up, “holy shit Sokka! Damn we should start calling you ‘twinkle toes’”

He ignored your comment and instead took the spot where Zuko had been sitting next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as the rest of the crew filed in around you, Aang and Katara suspiciously holding hands. You looked at all your friends in confusion and surprise, “uhh, is this an intervention or something?” No one answered and you awkwardly laughed but you were honestly getting creeped out, “okay you guys are being really weird.”

“So…,” Sokka finally spoke up, the smile not leaving his face, “You and Zuko, huh?”   
Your face blew up and you looked around at everyone with wide eyes, “What! Why are you guys like this!” Suki blinked at you from over the armrest of the couch, “what, did you guys not just confess to each other on the terrace?” She pointed and you followed her gaze to where you two had been standing before the water bender interrupted you, and shook your head, “no!” Everyone sighed disappointedly, and Toph groaned, “are you kidding me? I can hear how much you guys like each other! It’s getting ridiculous!”

All your friends nodded along with her, Katara even spoke up, “you were hugging each other like you were going to die, what could you have possibly been talking about?” You shrugged, “we weren’t confessing anything! I was just telling him about all my fears for the future and then he asked me to stay and then he was gonna tell me something else but SOMEONE interrupted!” You spoke quickly, no actual thought going into the words as you tried to defend yourself. Katara sighed, “He was probably going to confess… ugh I should’ve waited…” 

You blushed at the words but sighed rubbing your face, “guys, he doesn’t like me like that, okay?” Everyone around you rolled their eyes, obviously a little less oblivious to the fire bender’s feelings than you were. Suki sat down on the other side of you, “(Y/N)... what makes you think he doesn’t like you?” You laughed nervously, “geez, kind of a deep conversation to have surrounded by a bunch of people…” you laughed again looking around at your friends, but the smile fell when you saw them all waiting for your answer. 

You shot up from the couch and groaned, “I- It’s just, I mean come on!” You passed your friends and went to stand in the middle of the room, pacing back and forth as everyone watched, and some giggled. “He doesn’t like me! It’s like, he could have any girl in the entire world, guys,” you waved your arms around and Katara sighed at you, knowing what you were going to say, “and now he’s the new FIRELORD, I mean do I have to spell it out for you? I’m just some weird girl you found in a swamp, he’s the ruler of the entire fire nation!” The water bender sighed as you kept muttering and pacing, not really making any new points. 

“... and I was mean to him that one time, so that would put me farther down on the list-” Your momentum was stopped by two firm hands on your shoulders, and you looked up meeting bright blue eyes, “(Y/N).” Suddenly your confidence went out the window, the stare of the girl kept you locked in place, only a meek, “yes,” came out of your throat. Katara sighed and her face changed, concern growing, “(Y/N), how do you feel about Zuko?”

You looked at her for a moment, blinking as if it would help you escape the situation even for a split second. Your gaze drifted past the water bender and onto your other friends, who seemed to know your answer but had the comradery to let you say it yourself. And let’s face it, you already knew the answer too, you were just hoping you could hold off long enough for them to lose interest. You sighed, facing the facts,

“I love him.”

The room erupted in cheers, even Toph had her hands in the air at your words. You laughed a little bit too, your friends’ happiness was contagious. It made you feel like liking him wasn’t such a lost cause, no matter how you looked at it, but as the cheering died down, the feelings came back. You sighed, “but what does it matter, the fact still stands. He doesn’t like me.” You trudged back over to the couch and plopped yourself back down on it, your head resting on Suki’s lap as your legs laid over Sokka. Suki sighed as she rested her hand on your head, playing a little bit with your hair, “you are so blind.”

It seems like it was the avatar’s turn, Aang stepped forward, “why haven’t you told him?” You groaned burying your head in Suki’s lap, “for all the reasons I said before, besides” you sighed and looked at your hand, “he asked me to help look for his missing mom.” Everyone slapped their foreheads simultaneously at how obvious the fire bender was being, but they ignored it for your sake. The earth bender in front of you groaned, “and? What’s that have to do with telling him?” You propped yourself up, “because, Toph,” you gestured outwards dramatically, “if I tell him before we go on that journey and he rejects me like I know he will, he’ll have to awkwardly dance around me and I’ll probably cry.” You sighed and flopped back down on Suki, “I just want to stay with him, even if we aren’t together.”

You felt a hand tap your legs, and you shifted your gaze down at the water tribe boy, “that’s pretty selfish, you know?” With furrowed brows, you thought for a minute but still came back blank. Rising from your spot on the Kyoshi warrior, you sat up properly to look at Sokka, “wha- what do you mean?” He shrugged, “It kinda sounds like you’re helping him just so you can be with him, and you’re lying by saying that you want to help.” Your eyes widened, “No, no I want to help! Finding his mom is so important to him, of course, I want to help!” The boy just shook his head, “but you are still technically lying by saying you just want to help, right?” You stared at the boy, blinking as the gears turned in your head. 

Standing, you looked down at your hands, trying to figure yourself out. Katara rested a hand on your shoulder, “...are you okay?” You lifted your head, smiling at the girl, but you couldn’t hide the sour look in your eyes, “yeah, yeah I’m good, uh just tired.” Katara didn’t buy it at all, but she lightened her grip as you pulled away. 

Shuffling to the door, you reached for the handle while the crew watched you go. Aang asked again, “(Y/N) are you sure you’re okay?” and you stopped with your handle on the door, turning to smile at the avatar, “yeah! I’m just going to head to bed, long day celebrating the new world! Ya know?” You opened the door and slipped out, leaving your friends with a small wave.

Katara turned to her brother, furious, “Why did you say that to her?! Did you see how she reacted?!” Sokka just looked at the door, crossing his arms, “trust me, I had a plan.” The water bender sighed, “Oh was your plan to make her feel even worse about herself? Cause you did a great job, idiot!” Sokka just shushed his sister, and sat up, leaning his body on his knees, “I guarantee by tomorrow they will be together,” he rested his head on his hand, looking up at his sister from the couch, “guaranteed.” Katara scoffed, “very funny, she’s still convinced the boy doesn’t like her at all even though he makes heart eyes at her at every given opportunity.” Sokka shrugged, “I know, just trust me.” 

The girl sighed and looked after the door you had just left out of with uncertainty, “...fine.”

You walked down the hallway, the paintings on the walls that would normally grab your attention were ignored as your thoughts raced. ‘Sokka doesn’t know what he’s talking about,’ you thought, ‘he’s just a guy, right?’ You nodded to yourself as you walked, holding yourself a little higher, ‘yeah he’s just stupid.’ You walked a few more steps before halting in the middle of the hallway. You suddenly whipped your arms up to clutch your head, ‘UGH THEN WHY WAS IT SO DEEP.’ You sighed, thinking a nice long bath would do your brain some good, and you trudged your sad little ass down the hallway again. 

Your journey wasn’t completed as you ran headfirst into a soft wall, but the smell of the wall was too familiar to be a wall. You took a step back and looked up at Zuko, the boy giving you a strange face, “Oh, hello!” Zuko furrowed his brows at you, “...are you okay? I’ve been standing here the entire time you were walking down this hallway.” You blinked up at him and glanced back down the empty hallway before looking back up at the Firelord, “oh, uh I thought you were in a meeting?” He nodded a bit, “yeah, it ended and I came out here to see you having a mental breakdown next to a portrait of my grandmother.” You sighed, “sorry, I was just gonna go to bed,” you gave him a huff of a laugh, “guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

Zuko didn’t really believe a word you’d said, but the look on your face didn’t scream ‘let’s talk about it’, “here,” he reached out his arm, “I’ll walk you back to your room, just in case you see any other portraits of my relatives and it makes you pass out.” A short laugh burst out of you, making the fire bender smile a little, you linked your arm with his lightly, smiling with your eyes closed up at the boy, “lead the way.”

While you walked down the hallways, Zuko described all the stuff on the walls, from portraits to decorations you would’ve never guessed would’ve meant anything other than their face value. You rested your head on his shoulder as you two walked, real exhaustion hitting as you ventured to your room. When you two had reached the door, you wiggled your arm out of his, turning to face the boy, you smiled, “thank you for the tour, Mr. Firelord.” You giggled while the fire bender groaned, but the sound didn’t quite reach his face as he smiled slightly down at you. You two stared at each other for a moment, silence filled the air. 

He broke the silence by clearing his throat, “hey, um can we talk about earlier?” Your eyes widened at the boy, Sokka’s words coming back full speed in your head when you didn’t even know they left in the first place. A chill came down your body as panic filled your head and you froze. You only realized you’d zoned out when Zuko’s voice brought you out of your stupor, “... and I kept trying to say it but-” You reached a shaky hand out and put it on his shoulder, hoping he couldn’t see how much you were sweating, “hey, uh, umm I’m really tired. Could we, could we maybe talk tomorrow? Sorry?” You weren’t making eye contact with the boy, but instead, you were watching where your hand connected to his shoulder, hoping your half-assed excuse might work. 

Zuko watched you advert your eyes from him, worried, “yeah, yeah but just… are you okay?” You just nodded, retracting your hand silently. You went to step back into the room that was reserved just for you, but a hand grabbed your face under your chin. You were forced to make eye contact with the fire bender, eyes wide as he looked down at you, “...are you okay?” You watched his eyes shift over your face, trying to read more than you were telling him. Looking into his eyes, you almost just vomited all the worries you had in your head, you really almost did. But somehow you kept it all together and smiled up at him, “yeah, I told you. I’m just really tired.” Zuko’s golden eyes kept wavering over your face, trying to figure you out, but he just let out a breath when he didn’t find anything. 

“Alright… goodnight, (Y/N),” he let go of your face, and you felt the warmth leave you, he looked down at you as you shuffled around the door. You nodded at him, “yeah, goodnight Zuko.” You stared back at him, another silence filling in between the two of you again. You wanted to step back into your room, but you found yourself locked on the fire bender’s face. You sprang forward and as quick as it takes to say it, you pressed your lips against his cheek and ran into your room, closing the door in his face. 

You turned and leaned against the door, looking out at the dark room with only a little sliver of light coming from the hallway. You slid down the door, your head falling into your arms as you took a deep breath. Your voice shuddered as you felt your chest tighten, not willing yourself to cry. You sighed and picked up your head, resting your head against the door, “... I can’t do it.”

Meanwhile, outside your little depression room, Zuko stared at where you were standing just a moment before. His hand rose to meet his cheek as if touching the spot where you’d kissed him would make it happen again. He stepped back, just enough to stretch his shoulders, shaking his hands too. A smile crept up his face, and no matter how much he tried to pull his angst back into the situation, he smiled. After his little celebration, despite not being able to tell you how he really felt, he started down the hallway again. He passed a mirror that hung up in the hallway he was walking down, only to backpedal. 

The man that stared back at him was someone he never thought he’d ever see in his life. He was happy. He even tried rubbing the smile off his face, but it came back full force, and it was just from being around you for a few minutes. Groaning, he wondered how it came to this and why he couldn’t just tell him how he feels. He sighed, you did say that you guys could talk tomorrow, maybe he should just focus on actually telling you then. Zuko brushed off his robes, holding himself higher, the smile still holding strong. His hand fell over his chest and rested there. The weight reminded him of your collision in the hallway, and that was what made his smile drop. He tore himself away from the mirror, taking quick steps down the hallway. 

Zuko burst through the door, silencing all the conversations that the avatar and his friends were having. They looked at the new Firelord as he panted, out of breath from the race down the hallway. Sokka looked at him in confusion, “Hey, where’s the fire, Firelord?” Toph laughed and gave the water tribe boy a high-five before sitting back down in her seat. The fire bender groaned, “I feel like I should be angry at the way you said ‘Firelord’, but I honestly don’t have the energy anymore.” Katara nodded in sympathy at the boy while Aang stepped forward, “but seriously, what’s up?”

“What’s wrong with (Y/N)?” 

Everyone whipped their heads to Sokka, who held his hands up in surrender, “trust me she’s fine.” Zuko shook his head no, “she was blindly walking down the hallway! For a moment it looked like she was having a migraine by a painting of my Gams.” Katara groaned, “Sokka you broke her!” 

Zuko furrowed his brows at the swordsman, “What… what did you do to her?” Sokka rose from his place on the couch, waving his hands around, “hey! At least I did something!” Zuko watched everyone start to chatter, the room erupting. The fire bender rubbed his face, “HEY! Is anyone going to tell me what happened?!” 

Everyone stopped speaking and looked at each other as if debating to tell the truth. Sokka spoke up, “We just asked her about her… future and I just told her something… about… that.” Suki slapped his arm and grumbled only a ‘hey!’ was returned to the girl. 

A groan pulled everyone's eyes back to the fire bender, who had his face buried in his hands, “that was her reaction to talking about her future?” Zuko walked over to a vacant chair and plopped down, leaning forward to prop himself up on his knees. The confusion in the room almost made noise, everyone just watching Zuko rub his face. “Why is that so… upsetting,” Aang shrugged his shoulders, a little tinge behind his voice that the other’s picked up on. Zuko peeled his hands down his face, and groaned, “because I just asked her..,” he sighed and looked away from his new friends, “I asked her to stay with me.” The silence that filled the room made the fire bender look forward, five sets of eyes rested on him, most of their faces having smiles, “...what?” 

“You’re in love with her,” Suki said, her eyes wide, “Oh my- you actually love her.” Zuko’s face flushed red, “I-” Sokka interrupted and leaned back on the couch, “I actually knew before anyone else.” Suki rolled her eyes while Zuko watched them talk about his life right in front of him, “Oh yeah, and how did you figure that out?” Sokka shrugged, “he’s been in love with her since The Boiling Rock fiasco,” he smiled smugly, “I actually, uh, patched up their lover’s quarrel.” Zuko sighed, “Sokka you didn’t patch up our ‘lover’s quarrel’, because it wasn’t one.” 

Katara ignored her brother’s objection and turned to the fire bender, “... do you love her?” Zuko looked at Katara, his face was red, but he sighed and muttered, “...yes.” 

The whole gang was bubbling with energy and unshared knowledge while the Firelord continued to speak, “so yeah I’m pretty worried that she looks like a zombie when you were just ‘talking about her future’.” 

The room was quiet, Toph’s voice rang through the room, “have you thought about confessing to her?” Zuko sighed, “thought about it? I’ve been trying to for the past three days but for some reason,” he glared over at Katara, who just blocked her face, “I keep getting interrupted.” Aang opened his mouth to speak, but the fire bender just stood from his seat, “Look, I’m just going to go to bed. I’m supposed to talk to her tomorrow, but with how she was acting earlier,” he sighed and looked at his hands, “maybe it would be better to not say anything at all.”

The crew watched him walk away from the room, opening and disappearing through the same door you did no more than a few minutes beforehand. Sitting in silence for a while, Toph’s voice rang through the room, “Sokka you better be right, I don’t think I can handle much more of this idiocy.” Sokka nodded his head, “I’m telling you guys to trust me. Everything will be fine.”

\---

Night fell quickly after you had gone to bed, but that didn’t mean you were falling asleep with it. You watched the moonlight shine on the ceiling of your room, your thoughts not matching the serenity that the blue light gave off. You groaned and flipped over in the luxurious bed, sighing into your pillow as the fire bender came racing through your thoughts again. “I’m not being selfish, Sokka,” you sat up and threw your pillow across the room, “you’re being selfish, stupid.” You flopped back down on the sheets, your anxieties making it virtually impossible for you to fall asleep, eyes wide open. “Why can’t I just help him? Why do I have to have another reason?” You sighed and grabbed another pillow from beside you to put on your face, the words coming out of your mouth muffled, “...because I love him.”

“I can’t help him, I can’t,” you propped yourself up as you spoke to yourself, “but if I don’t, I’ll never see him again.” You shook your head, “I’ll see him again, that’s stupid,” you looked out the window from your place on the bed, “but what if something bad happens to him or his mother, and I’m not there to help.” You groaned and fell back on the bed again dramatically. Silence filled the room, only the rustle of the sheets falling back into place disrupted the peace of the room. 

You sprang up suddenly, “I have to tell him.”

…

Zuko sat on the edge of his bed, looking out of the huge window that decorated one side of his chambers, the moon casting the same blue light into his room. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he listened to the trees shuffle outside his room. 

Nightmares had surprisingly come back, despite his worst fears being taken care of, from his sister to his father. New nightmares did fill in the places where the fears didn’t hold as strong. Now he can’t get the image of you rejecting him out of his head. 

“This is ridiculous,” he sighed, “I used to dream about my friends dying… and now It’s just being emotionally damaged… what the hell.” He rubbed his face, knowing that sleep wasn’t going to come tonight willingly. He knew the only way was to go to you, but if you really acted the way you did in the hallway at just the thought of your future with him… he just didn’t even know what to think. 

A soft knock shocked the boy out of his stupor, the silence in the room made it easy to hear. He turned his head to the door but didn’t make the move to get up, listening to see if he imagined the knock in the first place.

“...hey, uh Zuko? Are you awake?”

Zuko sucked in some air at the sound of your voice, stumbling off his bed and onto the floor. He tumbled on the floor, the sheets that surrounded him tangled with his legs and he groaned at the thump. He heard the door open slowly, and he clumsily unwrapped himself from his restraints and stood quickly, just in time for you to pop your head into the room, “...you okay? I heard a thump.” Zuko tried to hold in his heavy rushed breaths and just nodded, “yeah, yeah I’m okay! Yep.” You looked at him for a second before huffing a laugh and opening the door a little more. “Wasn’t expecting you to be awake and,” you looked between him and the bed, “two feet away from your bed. Why... were you awake?”

Zuko cleared his throat, shifting his eyes around the room before landing back on you standing in the doorway. Seeing the concern grow on your face, he sighed and stepped toward his bed, sitting down on it, “I… it’s the…” He trailed off and mumbled, trying not to share all of his worries about you or anything at all. You looked at his tense form on the bed and pieced it together, “...nightmares?” Zuko shifted his gaze to you for a second, and then rested his eyes on the floor before nodding. Tilting your head, you spoke softly, “I could… do you want me to stay? With you?” 

There was no hesitation in Zuko’s voice as he immediately responded, “please.” 

You smiled a little and stepped in the room, closing the door behind you blocking the warm light from the hallway. Your eyes adjusted to the dark room as the moonlight filtered back in. Walking up to the bed, you crawled in as Zuko flopped onto the bed from his sitting position. “How long have you been up,” you spoke softly like it would scare the silence if you spoke any louder. 

You’d both gotten under the blanket, when Zuko responded, “I don’t know, a while… why were you awake?” Suddenly all your thoughts came back, you were blinded by Zuko when you came in and you’ve thrown yourself off track of your original plan, “oh, uh, I don’t… know.” The boy knew you were lying, but the warmth of you beside him, and the knowledge that you’d end up warding off his nightmares somehow, made him drowsy, despite his previous insomniatic thoughts about you before. He shifted in the bed, his back to you, “alright… goodnight (Y/N).”

You looked at his back and didn’t respond. You knew what you had to do, consequences be damned. You drape an arm around the boy’s waist, pulling yourself into his back and curling around him. Pressing your face against his shirt, you felt the fire bender tense under your touch. “I lied,” you whispered, “I came to talk to you.” 

You could hear his heartbeat faintly through the back of his shirt, and you were sure yours was beating just as fast as his while his body started slowly losing it’s tense nature as you started talking, “Zuko… I can’t, um, I can’t help you find your mom.” His body firmed up again at your words, and he held his breath. “I can’t do it because I’m selfish, Zuko,” holding him closed you tried to hide in his back. “(Y/N), what are you-” the boy tried to shift in your arms but you held him tight, “No, no please just… stay like this for a minute. Please.” 

Without any words, Zuko fell back into your arms, waiting for you to explain yourself. Taking a deep breath you continued, “I’m selfish. I really do want to help you find your mother. Moon, it’s the first thing I’d ever want to do, especially with you…” you sighed, “but that’s my problem, I want to do it for you, with you.” You buried your face into his back, you felt the tears well up in your eyes, “I can’t go with you because I’d be lying to you if I said it was only for your mother.”

Zuko didn’t say anything, the silence and serene nature of the room was tense but still there as you willed yourself to confess. You couldn’t allow yourself to cry, your mom didn’t raise a baby, but it was hard to keep your eyes dry, despite your strength. With a big shaky breath, you closed your eyes, even while knowing he couldn’t see your face, and you spoke,

“Zuko, I love you.”

For a moment, no one even breathed, especially you. You felt like it would be loud enough to cover whatever Zuko might say, and you didn’t want to risk it. Except, the fire bender didn’t say anything. He tensed in your arms for probably the third time in the last minute, but he stayed that way while you waited for a response. His chest pounded along with yours as you listened to his heartbeat again. 

Then he shifted. He shimmed out of your strong grasp, and you let him. The tears you thought you could hold in came out as the boy moved out of your embrace, and you decided that then and there, this was the worst rejection you could’ve thought of. You covered your face and pushed yourself back from the middle of the bed, hoping you could slide out of the bed silently. 

You had only gone a few inches when two strong arms wrapped around your back and pulled you into his chest. 

“I love you, (Y/N), I love you so much,” Zuko whispered in your ear and then dug his face into your shoulder, as the tears came down your face.

A short laugh ripped out of you as you looked over the boy’s shoulder and into the moon, “holy shit, why did you take so long to say something, I almost just died.” You wrapped your own arms around him as you laid in the bed, and gave him a fake punch. Your jabs slowed into you rubbing the fire benders back, pulling your head back to look at him in the eyes, “I love you, Zuko.” 

You both smiled at each other, leaning in to close the small bit of distance that there was between you. Your lips touched his, and you dragged your arm away from his back to rest at the base of his head, deepening the kiss further than it already was. 

When you ran out of breath you pulled away, Zuko’s lips following yours for a second before separating. You looked into his eyes, so close you could feel his breath fan over your face, and you’re sure it was the same for him. You smiled at the boy, laughing a little at his own smile before tucking your head down. You felt him press his lips to your forehead, and butterfly them around the top of your head, before murmuring into your hair, “you’re going to stay with me right?”  
You nodded into him, “yes, as long as you’re gonna stay with me.” Zuko huffed a laugh, resting his chin on your head, and pulling you closer to him, “I will… as long as you stop calling me princey…” Another short dorky laugh ripped from your mouth and you shook in his grasp, “that's fine, Firelord Zuko.”

You felt his breath hitch and you froze alongside him before you looked up at him, “... Firelord Zuko?” Zuko groaned, and tried to pull his arm over his obviously reddening face, “(Y/N)... stop…” You gasped, “Oh my- do you,” you started laughing, “do you like it when I call you that?” Zuko kept his arm covering his face, but you still saw the slight nod he gave you as a response, making you start laughing again, burying yourself back into the boy before you managed to speak, “you’re my favorite person in the entire world, you know that?” 

Zuko groaned, “you’re starting to be my least favorite.” Gasping you gave him another light jab, “you literally just said you loved me.” He sighed, dropping his arm from his face even though it still remains as red as it was before, “and I do.” He smiled down on you and you laughed when he launched down and blew a raspberry on your shoulder, making you squirm and laugh, “stop!”

\---

Light streamed through the window, hitting your face and everything else in its path with warm morning light. You blinked, trying to get used to the light as you woke up from your sleep, well-rested and comfortably warm. You shifted your gaze to the boy that held you close to himself, and found him gazing down at you with hooded eyes, “good morning.” You smiled at him, remembering the night before with clarity, “good morning… Firelord Zuko.” 

The fire bender groaned and pulled away from you as you laughed out loud, “you really know how to kill a moment.” You were almost lulled by his soft voice but decided against your gut and shifted to sit up in the bed. You looked over at the new Firelord and smiled, leaning over him to kiss him again, feeling him smile as well as your lips grazed each other's. You pulled away as Zuko started to sit up, and laughed, “hey,” you shrugged, “it’s my specialty.” 

Zuko laughed as he stood out of the bed, letting you admire from your spot as the morning rays surrounded his body as he stretched. He let out a breath before turning to face you, “do you want anything for breakfast? Food, fruit, tea?” You sat for a second, thinking about your options as he came and sat next to you on the side of the bed you rested on. You leaned your head on his shoulder as you thought, “you know what,” you looked up at the boy,

“Just Some Tea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the end :) I hope this satisfies your Zuko dreams, despite all your nice comments I am still a beginner writer!
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this, even though it started out kinda as a joke, but honestly, your guys' comments made me feel really good about my writing! 
> 
> I'm not sure if I'll ever write something like this again, so it was really fun while it lasted! Thank you guys so much!


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